NEAR House of Stake (HoS) is a governance framework for the NEAR Protocol ecosystem— a new, improved approach to the previous NEAR Digital Collective (NDC) governance model.
Key Components of House of Stake (HoS)
Stake-Weighted Voting: Unlike NDC’s one-person-one-vote system, House of Stake requires participants to have economic skin in the game. Your voting power is proportional to your economic stake, either by owning NEAR or a NEAR liquid staking token (LST) directly, or by receiving delegations from tokenholders.
Staking: When you lock your tokens in House of Stake, you can select a validator pool to stake with as part of the locking process. This means you’re not choosing between governance participation and staking rewards—you get both. You’ll earn staking rewards from your chosen validator, plus additional veNEAR holder rewards for governance participation, all while your staked tokens help secure the network.
Delegation: Delegations aligns economic rights with governance rights—token holders can delegate their voting power to active participants who will represent their interests, while those delegates must maintain the trust of their delegators to retain influence. This creates stronger alignment between voting power and commitment to the ecosystem’s success.
Proposal Screening: A dedicated screening committee pre-screens proposals before they go to a vote, helping ensure quality and relevance.
On-Chain Voting: Voting takes place on-chain through a custom interface built specifically for NEAR by the Agora team.
veNEAR: The Core Mechanism
veNEAR (vote-escrowed NEAR) is the voting token that powers the system:
- How to get it: Lock NEAR, stNEAR, or liNEAR tokens to receive veNEAR
- Dual weighting: Voting power is based on both the amount staked AND the lock duration
- Incentive alignment: Longer lock periods = greater voting power, encouraging long-term commitment
- Flexibility: You can unlock at any time, with a 45-day cooldown period
- Linear accumulation: Your veNEAR accumulates linearly over the lock period
Why Participate?
Direct rewards: Earn rewards by locking and staking your tokens
Governance influence: Shape the direction of the NEAR ecosystem through voting power
Validator choice: As part of the process, you can stake NEAR to your preferred validator
What Gets Decided?
Since launching about 6 months ago (as of the time of writing), House of Stake has focused on:
Constitutional documents currently in progress:
- Code of Conduct
- Mission, Vision, and Values
- Screening Committee Charter
- Conflict of Interest Policy
- Delegates Charter
Operational programs already passed:
- Validator Support Program
- veNEAR Holder Rewards
Proposed initiatives:
- Sustainable funding for MPC (Multi-Party Computation) node operators, with HoS serving as the program administrator
Governance Philosophy
The approach has been deliberately structured: establish clear constitutional foundations first, then build community trust through successful execution of programs. This means structural/policy proposals are advancing alongside operational ones, creating a framework of transparent, accountable governance rules before scaling up decision-making.
Resources
- Official Documentation: https://houseofstake.org/docs/overview
- Governance Interface: https://gov.houseofstake.org/info
- Governance Forum: https://gov.near.org/
In summary, House of Stake represents a maturation of NEAR’s governance approach. By transitioning from one-person-one-vote to a stake-weighted model, it creates a system where economic alignment, long-term commitment, trust, and reputation determine influence—a design intended to make governance more sustainable, transparent, and accountable, ultimately delivering more effective decision-making over time.
Updated: February 5, 2026
