CRO Protocol Labs (“Crypto.com”) is a payments ecosystem that offers a range of blockchain-based solutions to help increase crypto adoption and put “cryptocurrency in every wallet.”
Crypto.com started out as a financial services firm in Monaco, which offered VISA-approved payments cards pre-paid with crypto.
It also had an exchange, wallet, and other crypto portfolio products.
Since then, Crypto.com has expanded its solutions to include tax and credit services, dApps and NFT support, and TWO blockchains to help optimize transactions within the ecosystem.
How does it work?
Crypto.com’s range of products can be grouped into five focuses:
1. Payment
Crypto.com Pay allows you to send, receive, or pay merchants with crypto. Users can also use its VISA Card line at interbank rates and receive legit cashback and benefits.
2. Trading
Crypto.com App lets you buy, sell, send, and track your crypto holdings and top up your account with fiat. Crypto.com Exchange enables spot, margin, and derivatives trading as well as crypto lending and staking activities. Users from the U.K., Australia, U.S., Canada, and Germany can even compute taxes using Crypto.com Tax!
3. Financial Services
Crypto.com App users can also access Crypto Earn, which pays interest on crypto deposits, and Crypto Credit, which accepts cryptocurrencies as collateral to get loans. Meanwhile, the Crypto.com DeFi Wallet is a non-custodial wallet that uses Cronos Bridge so that users can store and access DApps within the Cronos, Ethereum, and Binance Smart Chain ecosystems.
4. Metaverse
Crypto.com NFT is an NFT platform that allows users to mint and list their collectibles. It’s also integrated with Crypto.com Pay as well as the Crypto.org and Ethereum blockchains.
5. Blockchain Infrastructure
Crypto.com built TWO blockchains to help improve its services.
The Crypto.org Chain is Crypto.com’s native blockchain built to speed up transactions and minimize fees. It uses Cosmos SDK and Tendermint Core consensus algorithm to help secure and scale transactions as well as achieve fast finality.
The Cronos Chain, on the other hand, is the Binance Smart Chain to Crypto.org Chain’s Binance Chain. It’s an EVM-compatible chain running separately but parallel to the Crypto.org Chain.
If the Crypto.org Chain powers payment and trading activities, Cronos will enable compatibility with EVM and Inter Blockchain Communications (IBC)-enabled chains.
This opens Crypto.com to DeFi, NFT, and other decentralized applications, as well as digital assets from other blockchains.
Team background
Crypto.com – formerly known as Monaco Technologies GmbH – was founded by Bobby Bao, Gary Or, Kris Marszalek, and Rafael Melo shortly after online marketplace Ensogo suddenly shut down its operations in 2016.
Kris Marszalek (CEO) was the CEO of Ensogo and co-founder of the e-commerce business BeeCrazy.
Rafael Melo (CFO) also worked for Ensogo as CFO and has experience in mobile payment solutions.
Bobby Bao (Head of Crypto.com Capital) has experience in investment banking and was Head of Corp. Development at Ensogo.
Gary Or (CTO) did not work for Ensogo but was the Platform Architect of BeeCrazy and founder of startup accelerator Particle B.
Crypto.com is currently owned and operated by a Malta-based company Foris DAX MT Limited, but it’s the Cayman Island-based CRO Protocol Labs that are developing both the Crypto.org Chain and Cronos Chain.
Crypto.com surpassed its 3,000-member team size mark in November 2021 and is committed to building its ecosystem and offering a full suite of crypto services.
What is the CRO token?
Cronos (CRO) was initially designed as an ERC-20 token but became the native token after Crypto.com launched its blockchains.
It currently exists on the Ethereum (ERC-20 CRO), Crypto.org (CRO), and Cronos (CRC-20 CRO) networks and follows different token standards.
CRO also powers the Crypto.com ecosystem. Aside from staking and network rewarding activities, users can use their CRO to unlock DeFi features, get higher cashback and discounts, and be qualified for exclusive rewards.
Project network stats:
- Holder Addresses: 962K on Cronos, 273K on Ethereum
- Circulating and Max supply: 30B CRO