Was the Crypto.com Mainnet Launch a Success?

What has Changed Now That Crypto.org Exists?

There are a couple of large Crypto.com ecosystem changes that you should be aware of. The first is that CRO is no longer an ERC20 token. This has big implications for anyone holding CRO in Metamask, or other wallets. You will need to migrate your CRO tokens so that they are hosted on the Crypto.org chain, instead of Ethereum.

We recommend following the official CRO migration guide put out by Crypto.com. If you’re using the Crypto.com DeFi wallet, then migration is as simple as a click of a button. Keep in mind though, that in order to migrate, you will need to spend a bit of Ethereum to cover the ETH gas fees.

Less Expensive CRO Transaction Fees

Before the launch of Crypto.org Chain, sending a CRO transaction on Ethereum was quite expensive. You would be looking at a $20-$40 transaction, depending on the congestion on the Ethereum network. Now that the migration has taken place, fees have dropped to basically zero.

As you can see, the transaction fee to withdraw CRO from the exchange is now .001 CRO which is $0.0002. What this does is it allows CRO to move more freely from the centralized exchange (Crypto.com), to the supporting decentralized blockchain (Crypto.org):

DeFi and NFTs are Coming to Crypto.Org

Coinciding the launch of their blockchain, Crypto.com has launched a NFT marketplace with some of the biggest artists the world has to offer. Snoop Dogg, Boy George, and Axel Mansoor have all created a set of exclusive NFTs to sell on the platform.

We can expect the Crypto.Org team to progressively roll out new features that will enable CRO based DeFi. The best comparison I can make, is to observe what Binance has done with Binance Smart Chain. With each passing day, they’re taking market share away from Ethereum by appealing to an audience that prefers cheaper fees.

Crypto.org aims to compete in the same market. Soon there will be a host of different options for participating in DeFi on Ethereum, Binance, Crypto.org, Polkadot, and Cardano. It really comes down to which ecosystem can offer the best experience, along with the best set of incentives and rewards.

Crypto.Org Staking Rewards

Upon the launch of Crypto.org, the staking rewards were a massive 150% APY. But this amount of rewards is temporary, as it goes down as more CRO holders stake their tokens to the network. The official report is that the minimum staking rewards will be set at 20% APY, which is still an amazing return on investment.

There is still time to get between a 30% – 50% APY on Crypto.org, although the time for this is dwindling. Staking to Crypto.org can be done from the DeFi wallet.

How Do I Stake my Tokens to Crypto.org?

You have a couple of options for staking your CRO tokens to Crypto.org. If you have the Crypto.com DeFi wallet, then you’re able to stake through the “earn” interface.

If you prefer desktop applications, then you can stake through the Crypto.org Desktop Wallet. Either way, you will need to choose validators to stake your tokens to. You want to choose validators that are going to reliably run nodes on the network. If they fail to keep their node running for a sufficient amount of uptime, then you can lose some of your CRO. This mechanism of loss disincentivizes lazy, or sloppy infrastructure.

Which Validators Should I Choose? 

I chose the validators based on two aspects.

1. How much staking rewards will I get?
2. Is the Validator going to be reliable / can I trust the validator to run good infrastructure?

I ended up choosing 3 different validators, and I split up my CRO accordingly.

The first validator I chose was X Staking. I enjoyed that they gave a roadmap for their infrastructure, and contributions to the ecosystem. Lastly, they intend on slowly walking up their fees to a maximum of 3.5% of the rewards. I don’t mind paying someone for maintaining their infrastructure, you have to get paid somehow!

The second validator I chose was a group called Icy Road. They are a group of CRO enthusiasts that have been around since the MCO ICO in 2017. I resonated with them because they all hold the Icy White / Rose gold tier of Crypto.com VISA Debit cards. That, and they’ve demonstrated their allegiance to Crypto.com and CRO through the persistent HODLing through all of the changes to the ecosystem in 2020.

The third validator is AllNodes which is a well known validator across various cryptocurrency projects. For example, AllNodes also stakes for ETH2.0, Cardano, Polkadot, and many more. I staked to them because they’ve already established proof of their infrastructure through the support of other projects.

The Future of Crypto.com is On-Chain

Take a look at Binance, they’re a goliath company. They started from scratch in 2017 and built one of the largest, and most successful cryptocurrency ecosystems the world has to offer. It is because they’re constantly innovating, and adhering to the ethos of crypto established by Bitcoin: Decentralization.

Crypto.com too has decided to follow a similar path, albeit at a slower pace. They have the right idea by moving CRO onto its own chain, but what comes next will really separate them from their competitors. How they implement their DeFi ecosystem, and smart contracts has the potential to set them apart from the rest of the blockchains. For example, you can pay using Crypto.com Pay from Crypto.org. This is actually huge and should not be understated.

Crypto.org is a Cosmos-based blockchain. This means it is able to inherit many of the features that the Cosmos project has to offer. One of those features is inter-blockchain communication (IBC). This allows Bitcoin and other assets to be transacted with on-chain. Ultimately this means that Bitcoin will be able to be used in DeFi on Crypto.org. But this all comes later. For now, Crypto.org is just getting started.

Finally if you were wondering if the price of CRO coin has spiked since the mainnet launched the answer is: Not really.

CRO was around .$20 on March 25 and it’s holding steady at roughly $.22 at the time of writing. It remains to be seen whether CRO will see a BNB-like boom (they share some similar features) or if it remains one of the more undervalued coins. Regardless, CRO owners will be able to cash in on the substantial 20% interest rate for staking.