DataSource: Footprint Analytics-Cronos Dashboard
Crypto.com has been in the spotlight since its establishment in June 2016. Over the past year, it has taken a series of actions, including burning about 70 billion CRO (platform token) in circulation before the launch of the mainnet Crypto.org Chain in March 2021, launching the sidechain Cronos, and buying the naming rights for the NBA Lakers' home court for 20 years for $700 million. These actions have caused the CRO price to rise multiple times and increase its popularity among the public.
However, the good times didn't last long. On January 17, it was revealed that Crypto.com was attacked by hackers, resulting in a loss of approximately $35 million for users and causing the CRO price to plummet.
After being attacked, what is the future of Crypto.com's ecosystem vision, Token CRO, and Cronos?
About Crypto.com
Crypto.com is a cryptocurrency trading platform with 10 million users. It allows users to buy, sell, or trade over 250 cryptocurrencies and enjoy lower transaction fees compared to Ethereum. In addition, the platform also offers cryptocurrency credit cards, a standalone cryptocurrency wallet, a decentralized exchange, and support for NFTs based on the Ethereum network.
CRO's Benefits for Users
CRO is the native token issued by Crypto.com. Before the burn, the total supply of CRO was 100 billion, and the current circulation is over 25.3 billion. Most services provided by the platform are completed using CRO, including applying for a CRO Visa card, staking, CryptoEarn (earn interest by locking coins), liquidity mining, and buying/selling NFTs.
CRO has several prominent features, including:
- Visa Cards: Users stake a certain amount of CRO and can apply for different levels of Visa cards after staking for 180 days. Eligible transactions will immediately reward users with 1% to 8% in CRO.
- Earn Interest: Similar to traditional bank deposits, CryptoEarn provides higher returns compared to banks. Depending on the amount of CRO staked, users can enjoy interest rates ranging from 10% to 14%.
- Payment of Transaction Fees: CRO can be used to pay transaction fees within the Crypto.com exchange and receive fee discounts. Compared to Ethereum fees, Crypto.com fees are lower.
Although staking CRO has many benefits, there is a risk of depreciation when the CRO price is declining. It is generally not recommended to store too many coins on the platform.
CRO Price Trends Experienced Three Major Changes
According to Footprint Analytics data, as of February 22, the price of CRO is $0.4, with a year-on-year increase of 81%.
Three major events have influenced its price changes:
1. Before March 2021, Crypto.com burned 70 billion CRO to prepare for complete decentralization, indirectly increasing the circulation rate of CRO from 24% to 83%. On March 25 of the same year, Crypto.com launched the mainnet Crypto.org Chain, causing the CRO price to rise from $0.16 to $0.26, a 62.5% increase.
2. In November 2021, Crypto.com launched the EVM compatible chain Cronos and collaborated with various sports teams and celebrities, including buying the naming rights for the NBA Lakers' home court (Staples Center) for 20 years for $700 million. This pushed the CRO price to a historical high of $0.9, a 1451% increase compared to early January 2021.
3. In mid-January 2022, Crypto.com was attacked, resulting in a loss of nearly $35 million for users. The platform has fixed the vulnerability and compensated all affected users. The originally expected CRO price to exceed $1 per coin plummeted to $0.4.
Therefore, despite Crypto.com gaining popularity through the burn mechanism and marketing partnerships, the coin price will be affected once there are issues with fund security.
Impact of Cronos After the Coin Price Decline
On November 8, 2021, Crypto.com launched its Ethereum compatible chain called Cronos as a sidechain to Crypto.org. Both chains are running concurrently.
CRO is also the native token of the Cronos sidechain. According to Footprint Analytics, Cronos' Total Value Locked (TVL) has been steadily increasing since its launch and has not been affected by the CRO coin price decline. This also means that using CRO as a transaction fee on the Cronos chain will be cheaper.
Furthermore, Cronos, which has been online for less than 4 months, is already ranked in the top 9 on the entire network. It is important to have a relatively cheap and fast transaction speed public chain, especially after the DeFi craze. Currently, there are 41 protocols on the Cronos chain, with VVS Finance being the largest protocol in terms of TVL, attracting the most users. Users can provide liquidity mining using its VVS token and earn annualized returns between 50% and 70%.
In conclusion, Crypto.com has been around for five and a half years, but the mainnet and sidechain were launched after the DeFi boom. If Cronos had been launched earlier, given t
