Crypto.com (CRO): Overview of the Crypto.com Chain Ecosystem

Project History

The initial idea for Crypto.com started as Monaco Technologies GmbH in June 2016 under the leadership of CEO Kris Marszalek and three other founding members. The project was rebranded as Crypto.com on July 6, 2018. In October 2018, Crypto.com began shipping its Crypto.com Visa Card to users based in APAC markets, and a month later, the project launched the first iteration of the Crypto.com Chain protocol.

On December 19, 2018, Crypto.com proudly announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would allow Ledger, a blockchain cold wallet provider, to ensure the safekeeping of the platform’s assets. This functionality meant that users could utilize the Crypto.com App’s products and services on-demand, while still maintaining a high level of security comparable to what a cold wallet can provide.

In March 2019, Crypto.com began shipping its Crypto.com Visa Cards to U.S. customers, and in September, the platform reached the one million user mark. In 2020, the platform grew exponentially and by October of that year, the company hired its 600th full-time staff member and reached more than 5 million users.

Crypto.com Value Proposition and Main Components

When the creators of Crypto.com started the project, their vision was to help people around the world control their finances by protecting their identities and private data. In order to make this goal a reality, Crypto.com designed several innovative services — many of which are integrated throughout the Crypto.com App — including:

●  Crypto Trading (via the Crypto.com Exchange and App)

●  Crypto Earn

●  Crypto.com Pay

●  Crypto Credit

●  Crypto.com DeFi Wallet and DeFi Swap

●  Crypto.com Visa Card

Crypto.com’s flagship product, the Crypto.com App, supports more than 80 crypto assets and seven types of fiat currencies as of this writing, instantly giving users the ability to securely buy, sell, store, send, and track crypto assets. Crypto Earn allows users to earn interest on crypto through competitive yearly dividends of up to 12%, depending on the term and asset type. Users who stake CRO coin enjoy the highest dividends of all asset types.

Crypto.com Pay is a mobile payment service built into the Crypto.com App that allows users to shop and pay with cryptocurrency. Users enjoy multiple reward features, including CRO coin cashback for Pay Gift Card purchases and free peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers with Pay Your Friends.

Crypto.com Pay Checkout allows merchants to receive crypto as an additional payment option and receive payment instantly in the fiat currency or cryptocurrency of their choice. Merchants pay zero processing fees for settlements in crypto, or save up to 80% on fees when compared to traditional payment processors.

Crypto Credit enables users to instantly receive a loan with no payment deadline and no credit check required. Users deposit CRO, BTC, ETH, and other select assets to receive a stablecoin loan.

Crypto.com DeFi Wallet is a decentralized and non-custodial wallet that gives users greater flexibility to control their assets. DeFi Wallet includes Chainlink price reference data, which offers decentralized price feeds for DeFi tokens. Users can also access DeFi Swap from the Wallet to swap and farm their DeFi assets, and can receive up to triple yield for providing CRO liquidity and staking CRO coins.

Larger holders of CRO can stake it as a validator on the Crypto.com Chain and earn incentivized network rewards as well as settle transaction fees on the network. The Crypto.com App is also fully integrated with the Crypto.com Exchange, which provides the platform’s users access to trade more than 80 cryptocurrencies.

On top of the above-cited capabilities, users can bridge Crypto.com's financial services and payment solutions with the Crypto.com Visa Card. The Crypto.com card gives users up to 100% reimbursements for Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Spotify and up to 10% cashback on all Airbnb and Expedia purchases (depending on card tier). Crypto.com Visa Cards can provide even more rewards for users, offering up to 8% cashback on purchases depending on the card tier. Card tier is determined by the amount of CRO coin a user has staked. When staking CRO, coins are usually held for a six-month lock-up period, wherein users can earn up to 12% APY on their staked CRO.

All of these services would not be possible without integrating Tendermint’s BFT consensus methodology, which serves as a key piece of infrastructure for the Crypto.com Chain protocol. Tendermint’s fault-tolerant design makes the platform secure, resilient, and permissionless, while also facilitating high speeds and minimal costs for its transactions. Further, Crypto.com’s sophisticated network of nodes expedites the ecosystem’s on-chain settlement, payment infrastructure, and overall service usability.

Cryptoeconomics

CRO has a total supply of 100 billion coins that originated from five secure multi-signature wallets, each of which was dedicated to a specific purpose:

1. Secondary distribution/launch incentives: 30%

2. Network long-term incentives: 20%

3. Capital reserve: 20%

4. Ecosystem grants: 20%

5. Community development: 10%

The founders of Crypto.com decided it was in the ecosystem's best interest to freeze 60% of the total CRO coin supply to ensure the project’s long-term viability. The two respective wallets for the capital reserve and network long-term incentive allocations will remain frozen until November 7, 2022. The ecosystem grants wallet will remain frozen until the launch of the new Crypto.com mainnet, which is planned as the next milestone following the successful launch of the Croeseid Testnet in October 2020. Further, the secondary distribution and launch incentives portion (30% of the total supply) of the CRO coin allocation will be deposited into its multi-sig wallet automatically via a smart contract on a recurring daily basis. Its yearly token distribution over the next five years has been set as follows:

• Year 1: 10% of the total circulating supply (10 billion coins)

• Year 2: 8% of the total circulating supply (8 billion coins)

• Year 3: 6% of the total circulating supply (6 billion coins)

• Year 4: 4% of the total circulating supply (4 billion coins)

• Year 5: 2% of the total circulating supply (2 billion coins)

The Crypto.com ecosystem started out with MCO (Monaco coin) as its native cryptocurrency, but has gradually shifted toward using CRO coin for all of its in-network functionalities. This move is designed to provide a next-generation cryptocurrency infrastructure — and as a result, eventually aims to unlock a broader set of cryptocurrency-based DeFi functionalities for Crypto.com users. Starting with the inception of the Crypto.com ecosystem, MCO was a primary driver for the Crypto.com App and its various functionalities. However, all Crypto.com users were asked to swap their MCO into CRO coin via the Crypto.com App by November 2, 2020. CRO coin now drives Crypto.com’s services — including its Crypto.com Visa Card, the Crypto.com App, and trading and payment services integration — and will likely power other Crypto.com App functionalities in the future as well.