Cronos: Crypto.com's EVM-compatible blockchain
The end of 2021 reserved for crypto investors a big arrival: Cronos Chain.
Eagerly awaited, this young entity quickly endowed itself with an eventful and abundant DeFi of propositions and respectable liquidity, o here is the question we will answer today: what is the Cronos chain?
Cronos is the second blockchain made by Crypto.com, one of the most prominent companies in the cryptocurrency landscape. In fact, as early as March 2021, Crypto.org, the chain created with the intention of fully decentralizing the Singaporean giant’s ecosystem, has been operational .
Over time, particularly aggressive marketing strategies have led Crypto.com to become one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges.
Among the various advertising and promotional operations are the hiring of Matt Damon as a corporate spokesperson and sponsorships in Formula 1. In addition, the purchase of the rights to the name of the arena where the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA) Clippers (NBA) and Kings (NHL) play was a move that resonated worldwide.
In addition to raising awareness of its brand, these initiatives aim to promote the entire crypto universe outside the usual niche boundaries.
In addition, the company is constantly working to improve and offer increasingly comprehensive and varied services. We will see how Cronos was born exactly with this in mind.
In this article we will explore the young blockchain, trying to understand its most important peculiarities.
We will explore the DeFi landscape, reviewing the main projects available so far.
Finally, we will spend a few lines evaluating the entire Crypto.com ecosystem, obviously with an eye toward the future.
Are we ready? Let’s get started!
Index
What is Cronos Chain?
Cronos is a chain built on Cosmos and also fully compatible with EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine). Is Cronos a layer-1 blockchain? Yes, Cronos is a very important layer-1 network, the first to connect Cosmos with Ethereum.
This means that DApps on Ethereum can easily be ported to Cronos-that’s why already from day one DeFi projects were popping up like mushrooms!
We could even stop here and already have a network with very high potential. However, there is much more!
The main strength lies in the fact that it inherits those of the two chains mentioned earlier.
First, being built on Cosmos, Cronos supports IBC (Inter Blockchain Communication). Because of this, coins can easily switch from one chain to another without having to rack their brains searching for a solution.
Cosmos DeFi users know what we are talking about: for example, it is possible to seamlessly move a token from Osmosis to Cosmos in just a few clicks.
Cronos thus adds to this ecosystem.
Shifting the focus to the benefit derived from Ethereum, thanks to EVM support it is possible to develop smart contracts easily and securely. This allowed Cronos’ DeFi to be born and grow in a decidedly short time, raising enormous capital for a chain that was born just over two months ago.
Another small benefit from EVM compatibility, which many people welcome, lies in the ability to use MetaMask, one of the most popular wallets in the world. It is these small details that make the difference and determine the success of a project.
The creation of this chain thus represents an important event for cryptocurrencies.
Connecting Ethereum and Cosmos was crucial: the former is the main environment of DeFi, the latter is one of the most innovative and scalable worlds on the market.
Cronos accomplishes this task first, and it does so with a huge company behind it that is determined to become No. 1: no kidding!
How does Cronos Chain work?
We said that Cronos is built on the Cosmos SDK, which is an innovative, module-based development “platform.” Through it, useful features such as the aforementioned IBC can be integrated.
Cronos also leverages Tendermint, the consensus engine that makes life easier for developers.
Without going into the details, we investors are interested to know that this chain is built in such a way as to facilitate scalability as much as possible.
The consensus mechanism is Proof-of-Authority, a version of Proof-of-Stake that improves performance in terms of speed and transactions, while continuing to ensure high security standards.
Everything is open source: individuals or entire teams can contribute to the development of the project.
Cronos is seamlessly integrated with Crypto.com (here some will say , “Thank the…chip, they built it!”).
Therefore, users who already take advantage of this company’s services have it easy: you can move funds directly to Cronos without having to go through any bridge.
Okay, we understand that Cronos offers interoperability and scalability.
We also know how relatively easy it is to import Ethereum’s DeFi world.
Finally, the whole Crypto.com ecosystem is integrated.
What is the ultimate purpose of the chain? More importantly, what are the benefits for us as investors and users?
The purpose of Cronos is to expand Crypto.com’s offerings even more.
We always keep in mind that blockchain and cryptocurrencies are still in their infancy: volumes will grow quite a bit in the years to come.
As in any market, companies in it are competing to secure a place in the Olympus.
In this industry, which is precisely young, this is even more important: the people who will approach crypto will do so through the leaders. Gaining such a position now will therefore bring monstrous gains.
Crypto.com is a very focused company that is constantly developing. Over the years it has been able to close the gap with other giants such as Binance, becoming one of the most established and at the same time promising companies. To learn more about the history, here is this interesting article.
The development of Cronos is apt to further expand the proposition, going on to gather more and more users. Today, a person who relies on Crypto.com finds almost everything they need without leaving the ecosystem.
Thanks to Cronos, it is possible to approach an Ethereum-style DeFi, yet benefit from reduced gas fees and fast transactions.
Moreover, the Cosmos world is at your fingertips, effortlessly. The advantages for us as investors are precisely these: a broad offering, a secure environment, and low costs.
We will shortly go on an exploration of the most interesting DeFi projects currently available on this chain.
First, however, a few lines about an “old” acquaintance awaits us: CRO.
Cronos CRO, the Cronos Chain crypto.
Cronos CRO is the coin that allows users to pay gas fees on Cronos Chain. Thus, Crypto.com really does everything in house, without having to rely on currencies outside the ecosystem.
The arrival of Cronos Chain led to a huge growth in value of this coin, going from less than 20 cents to almost 1 in a matter of weeks. Subsequently, the price lost a lot of ground, as did many coins and tokens.
Total supply is just over 30 billion. This figure was markedly higher. However, the 70 billion piece burn that occurred in spring 2021 eliminated a large chunk of the original supply.
CRO has high intrinsic value for several reasons:
- It is the coin that makes it possible to operate on Cronos;
- Except for the basic one, in order to obtain the Visa prepaid cards offered by Crypto.com, it is necessary to stake a certain number of CROs, blocked for 6 months. In addition, benefits from the card are offered only by continuing to keep the coin in stake even after the lockout period expires;
- Discounts are provided on exchange fees based on the number of CROs in stakes in the exchange. A bonus can be obtained through this referral;
- Future: Crypto.com is likely to hold more surprises from which the value of CRO will also benefit.
Therefore, the future of this coin seems to be very promising. However, to each person the appropriate research: it is still cryptocurrency.
Here is the real-time CRO price chart, offered by TradingView:
Best projects on Cronos Chain
Cronos has numerous DeFi platforms of various kinds, many of them coming directly from the Ethereum world. Let’s explore some of the projects together!
First of all, we must mention VVS Finance, the DeFi platform that alone collects just under half of the total liquidity deposited on the chain.
It is a classic Uniswap-style DeFi protocol where you can do coin swaps, farm and stake your native VVS token. The portal is simple but well-maintained, secure (within the limits of decentralized finance), and with a continuous expansion of investment propositions.
Among the protocols born in the very early days of Cronos, CronaSwap and Crodex should be noted. Nothing special to add: they too are AMMs forked by Uniswap. The latter two now have very little liquidity, levels far from those touched in their early days.
Added to the list of DEX and AMMs is MM Finance, whose special feature is the return of fees through trading mining: each movement made corresponds to a refund in the platform token, MMF.
Tectonic is a project that was highly anticipated at the time, ranking second in terms of liquidity within days of its debut (and where it still is). It is a cross-chain money market, that is, a lending platform from which we can borrow a coin or provide it for passive income.
At the moment, the assets offered by the platform are several including DAI, USDT and USDC stablecoins; WBTC and WETH synthetic tokens; and CRO coin.
Of note is the opportunity to stake VVS and obtain as an annuity the TONIC token directly on VVS Finance.
Outside of native platforms, several prominent players have integrated Cronos into their offerings. Among them, we mention Beefy Finance and Autofarm.
Cronos chain: built for the future
We have only explored the world of Cronos on the surface. Now, making use of our insights and tutorials, we can go into more and more detail about each project and invest with greater awareness.
This blockchain is an important milestone in the crypto landscape, especially for CRO holders and users in the Cosmos world. However, benefits also come to those who have always been immersed in Ethereum’s DeFi, as well as those who are looking for a place to trade quickly and cheaply.
Crypto.com continues to demonstrate the company’s great ability to seize opportunities, grow and offer an increasingly comprehensive product.
So we can look forward to more news on Cronos, perhaps even more…who knows? For now, we enjoy a fast, low-cost chain that offers good DeFi. Its construction, designed to make it scalable and interoperable will do the rest.
Before you go, here is a video to elaborate on what we have seen so far.
