Solana could go deflationary, gold sees continued momentum, and the data fallout from the US government shutdown

A Solana developer has proposed slashing blockchain rewards to relieve token inflation. In traditional assets, gold posts another strong week, continuing its four-month run, and the cancellation of October’s CPI report keeps investors – and the Fed – guessing. 

Newsmakers 

Solana dev proposes new tokenomics

• A Solana developer has proposed increasing the rate at which the blockchain reduces staking rewards to reduce token inflation in future, according to DL News.
  
  
• “High token inflation increases sell pressure, as some stakers treat staking rewards as ordinary income and need to sell a portion to cover taxes,” Lostintime101, a Solana technical writer and researcher at Helius, a Solana developer platform, said in the proposal.
  
  
• It’s not a first for this type of proposal. In March, Solana’s validators voted on a similar one aimed at reducing staking rewards by around 66%, but the vote only received 61% of votes in favour, falling short of the 66.67% supermajority needed for it to pass.

What does this mean for crypto?

This proposal aims to curb long-term token inflation and ease sell pressure from stakers. If adopted, it could make SOL’s tokenomics more sustainable. However, it will depend on validator support.

Gold continues its run 

• Gold posted a strong week, continuing its four-month streak in the green, possibly boosted by investors expecting another rate cut in December, reports Reuters.
  

• US rate futures indicate an 87% probability of a rate cut in December, up from 85% the previous day and 50% a week earlier, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool.
  

• “The expectation is that we’re going to continue to have a slower economy going into 2026, and the Federal Reserve is very likely to cut rates, which is getting some investors back” into gold, Bart Melek, global head of commodity strategy at TD Securities, commented to Reuters. 

October US inflation report cancelled 

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics has cancelled its October Consumer Price Index (CPI) report due to the government shutdown in that period, stating that the data can’t be retroactively collected.
  
  
• “Jerome Powell, the Fed chair, had already likened the central bank’s task of guiding the economy, without standard data on its performance, to ‘driving in the fog’,” The Guardian reported. “We’re going to collect every scrap of data we can find, evaluate it and think carefully about it,” he said last month. “What do you do if you’re driving in the fog? You slow down.”
  
  
• There’s been some good news, however, with one Fed policymaker, John Williams, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, noting on Friday that he still saw “room for a further adjustment in the near term” to rates.

What does this mean for crypto?

With no October CPI report, markets lose a key data point guiding rate expectations. That uncertainty can increase volatility across risk assets including crypto. Still, comments from Fed officials hinting at possible rate adjustments offer a small dose of optimism for investors. 

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