The recent decision effectively brings the total supply of CRO tokens back to its original limit of 100 billion.
Cronos, a Layer 1 blockchain associated with Crypto.com, has approved a governance initiative allowing for the reissue of 70 billion CRO tokens worth $5.6 billion that were previously burned in 2021. This approval restores the total supply of CRO tokens to a maximum of 100 billion, with the newly minted tokens allocated to a strategic reserve wallet set to be vested over multiple years.
According to the proposal, Crypto.com plans to utilize these restored tokens to facilitate the growth of its ecosystem. This includes efforts to establish a CRO exchange-traded fund (ETF) to cater to the rising institutional interest in cryptocurrencies.
Crypto.com’s Influence Sparks Concerns Over Centralization
The decision has ignited backlash regarding potential centralization issues, as validators linked to Crypto.com significantly influenced the approval process. Voting data from Mintscan indicated that independent validators predominantly opposed the reissuance, while major validators such as Electron, Antares, and Minotaur IV, connected to Crypto.com, played a crucial role in tipping the vote in favor of the initiative.
Critics highlighted a suspicious last-minute influx of 3.35 billion CRO votes that drastically shifted the voting outcome. During the vote, held from March 2 to March 16, there was initially a slim margin between the yes and no votes. Moreover, the proposal encountered challenges in reaching the requisite 33% quorum until a late surge of votes pushed participation over the 70% threshold, ultimately leading to its approval.
The final voting results revealed that 62.1% were in favor, 17.6% opposed, 20.1% abstained, and 0.11% exercised veto power. Industry critics, including Andre Cronje, the co-founder of Sonic, promptly raised alarms about possible governance manipulation. Cronje noted that just one significant vote could inflate Cronos' market capitalization from $2.5 billion to $8.5 billion overnight, casting doubt on the blockchain's decentralization.
This approval raises important questions about governance transparency in blockchain ecosystems, especially when centralized entities hold substantial sway over critical decisions. The Cronos Chain, which utilizes the Cosmos SDK, became operational in November 2021, and a Layer 2 Cronos zkEVM blockchain on Ethereum is currently in development.
At present, CRO has a circulating supply of 26.5 billion tokens, with a maximum limit of 30 billion and a market value of $2.13 billion. Following the approval of the reissuance proposal, CRO’s price fell to $0.080, experiencing a decline of over 7% within 24 hours, as per CoinMarketCap data.
Crypto.com Expands Services Across European Economic Area
In related news, Crypto.com has received a Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license from the Malta Financial Services Authority, enabling the exchange to officially extend its services to all the member states of the European Economic Area (EEA). This achievement marks Crypto.com as the first significant global crypto asset service provider to obtain full MiCA approval, allowing operations in the 30 countries of the EEA.
Recently, the platform also launched trading for stocks and ETFs targeting U.S. users in states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Washington, and Arizona. Plans for a nationwide rollout of this feature are underway, offering users zero-commission trades, fractional shares, and seamless securities transfers within the app.
Additionally, Crypto.com has introduced an institutional trading platform in the United States, aimed at enhancing its existing retail trading mobile application for cryptocurrencies. This new platform will provide over 300 trading pairs and sophisticated trading tools tailored for institutional clients, indicating the company’s ambitious strategy to penetrate Wall Street.
