Crypto.com’s Cronos blockchain considers proposal to reissue 70 billion previously burned tokens

Cronos, the Layer 1 blockchain associated with crypto exchange Crypto.com, is considering a proposal to reissue 70 billion CRO tokens that were burned in 2021, a move that would restore the total token supply to its original 100 billion CRO.

This proposal aims to place these 70 billion tokens ($6.3 billion) in a “strategic reserve wallet” with a five-year vesting schedule.

This comes as Crypto.com plans to file an exchange-traded fund application for CRO, aiming to tap into the growing institutional interest in crypto, according to the proposal.

The 2021 burn, hailed as one of the largest in crypto history, reduced the supply from 100 billion to 30 billion CRO tokens to support decentralization efforts ahead of Cronos’ mainnet launch.

The proposal has received critical feedback from the community on X, with some viewing it as a “step backward” and others calling it “dodgy.”

Crypto.com initially launched the Monaco Coin (MCO) as part of its MCO Visa Card program and later transitioned to its proprietary blockchain, renaming MCO to CRO, which now serves as the native token of the Cronos Chain.

After rebranding to Cronos in February 2021, the mainnet, developed using the Cosmos SDK, went live in November 2021. Additionally, developers have worked on a Cronos zkEVM Layer 2 blockchain on Ethereum.

CRO has a circulating supply of 27.3 billion tokens, with a current maximum supply cap of 30 billion at a $2.4 billion valuation. The CRO token price has increased by over 20% in the past 24 hours, according to The Block’s price page.