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Cronos is a high-speed blockchain built on the Cosmos SDK and compatible with EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine). It aims to massively scale the Web3 user community by giving Ethereum developers the ability to move applications, smart contracts, and assets from Ethereum and EVM compatible networks to a fast, low transaction cost blockchain.
Cronos is one of the two blockchains on the Crypto.com exchange, and it operates as the EVM-compatible sidechain of the Crypto.org chain. Using the Inter Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol, Cronos enables interaction with the Crypto.org chain and other blockchains in the Cosmos ecosystem.
Compared to the Crypto.org chain, Cronos is compatible with EVM and supports Solidity smart contract execution. In the future, the Crypto.org network will continue implementing CosmWasm (smart contracting platform built for the Cosmos ecosystem) smart contract execution, targeting Go and Rust developers. Cronos, on the other hand, targets developers who have experience building for Ethereum or other EVM chains and want to build dApps on Cronos using Solidity.
Cronos was launched by Crypto.com as part of its mission to "put cryptocurrency in every wallet." The beta version of the main Cronos Chain network was launched on November 8, 2021.
Cronos uses the Cosmos Software Development Kit (SDK), as well as Ethermint (now Evmos) technologies, which allow rapid porting of applications and smart contracts from Ethereum and EVM-compatible chains. Thanks to the EVM compatibility, developers can build the same way as on Ethereum and use the same tools and applications.
The Cosmos SDK is a modular blockchain development framework. Developers can create their own modules to meet user needs in addition to using pre-built modules such as management functions, token transfer, or IBC modules.
Cronos is a Proof of Authority (PoA) blockchain, which uses a Tendermint Core BFT Proof-of-Stake mechanism under the hood. Proof of Authority is said to be a more optimized and scalable consensus mechanism, while still maintaining security through a range of experienced and carefully-vetted validators. Validators are responsible for signing or offering a block in each consensus round. To incentivize validator nodes to run the network, rewards are distributed among validators according to their performance and the number of staked tokens.
There are several incorrect validator actions that lead to slashing on Cronos: double-signing — signing two blocks with the same block height; downtime — the validator missed a certain number of the previous 10,000 blocks. If the validator exceeds the upper limit of missed blocks, they will be removed from the active set. Penalties can include the loss of some amount of the rate, loss of the ability to perform network functions for a certain period of time, pause in receiving rewards, etc.
To sum it up, Cronos offers the following advantages: Web3 compatibility; interoperability within the IBC ecosystem; EVM support allows running Solidity-based dApps; high transaction processing speed due to using Proof of Authority consensus mechanism based on Tendermint Core.
The base settlement currency of Cronos is the native CRO token, which is also the native token of the Crypto.org blockchain. The token is used to enable transactions on the network and payment of network fees.
To use applications built on the Cronos network and to save, send or receive CRO tokens, a Cronos wallet such as Crypto.com DeFi, Metamask, MathWallet, or Trust Wallet must be connected to the main application. The CRO token is also supported by Ledger. That said, to use Metamask, all users have to do is add the Cronos network to it. To get CRC-20 standard CRO tokens on the Cronos network, you can use the native Cronos bridge to transfer native CRO tokens from the Crypto.org network.
Thus, for the average user, the experience with Cronos apps is no different from other EVM-compatible solutions.
Since the CRO token is the basis of the whole ecosystem, there are several ways of staking CRO tokens.
The first way involves depositing CRO on the Crypto.com exchange, which gives users various advantages: discounts when paying trading commissions with CRO, 10% annual interest paid daily, bonuses under the referral program, and other benefits.
The second way involves delegating tokens via Cronos Bridge to the Crypto.org network in favor of validators of this blockchain (since Cronos is a parallel chain validated via Proof of Authority, no delegation is implied on this network). The Crypto.org network uses a DPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake) consensus, where users nominate nodes by delegating their coins to network validators. In return, users receive a reward for staking, generated by the node. Users still own their tokens while staking, but they cannot transfer them until they are withdrawn. The withdrawal unbonding period is 28 days.
CRO is the native token of the universal cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com and the Crypto.org and Cronos chains.
From the beginning, Crypto.com has used CRO as a token that gives its users access to special rewards and discounts. Later, when it became the primary token for the Crypto.org and Cronos blockchains, CRO began to be used as the primary payment method for transactions on those blockchains, while maintaining its line of use in the Crypto.com system.
Total CRO supply is limited to 30 billion tokens (originally there were 100 billion, but most of those tokens were burned in 2021).
Originally there were 100 billion CRO, but 70 billion of them were burned in 2021 as part of the team's goal to fully decentralize the network at the mainnet launch and to increase the circulating supply of CRO.
The remaining 5 billion CRO will be allocated to mainnet block rewards for Chain validators and delegators, while 0.9 billion CRO will be allocated for the Chain ecosystem development. More information can be found here.
Cronos was audited by Kudelesky Security in February 2022.
Cronos is being developed by Cronos Labs, formerly known as Particle B, a startup accelerator and development fund for the Cronos Web3 ecosystem.
The Cronos Labs team is led by Managing Director Ken Timsit, former head of sales and marketing at ConsenSys (the company developing MetaMask and Infura). He began his career at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as a partner and manager, specializing in the financial services and fintech industries in Southeast Asia. Ken has co-authored several publications on blockchain topics and is a frequent speaker at technology events. Between 2018 and 2020, he was a member of the committee of the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum, a two-year initiative launched by the European Commission.
Cronos blockchain is part of the mature Crypto․com ecosystem, which claims to meet all the financial needs of its users. The following projects have already been integrated with Cronos: decentralized oracles Chainlink and Band Protocol; crosschain bridges Nerve, cBridge and AnySwap; DeFi projects VVS Finance, Tectonic, CRODEX, CronaSwap, PhotonSwap, Annex Finance, Swapp Protocol; NFT and gaming projects Duelist King, Gem Studio, Crocos NFT; and other projects. To further support the project ecosystem, Cronos Labs has launched a $100 million grant program.
There are many blockchain improvements planned for 2022. Among them: improving blockchain performance; optimizing the database to make Cronos nodes faster; introducing flexible transaction fees, so that the price of gas will be set by the network depending on the state of the network; and refining and formalizing protocol governance.
Generally, Cronos aims to massively scale DeFi, NFT and Metaverse applications and provide seamless access for end users.
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Last updated: Aug 22, 2023
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