As some of you may know, many of us at Altcoin Buzz are both fans and users of the Crypto.com platform. A lot has happened with Crypto.com since the last time we did a review of the project. Most notably is the ongoing MCO to CRO swap. We will get into that and much more in this 2020 Crypto.com review.
Table of Contents
Project Overview
Crypto.com was founded in mid-2017 under the name Monaco. Monaco conducted an initial coin offering in June 2017. During this ICO, the Monaco coin MCO was sold for around $2.89.
Today, Crypto.com’s user base has grown to over 3 million, up 2 million from September 2019. This growth is partially attributable to the sheer number of features that are offered on the Crypto.com Platform. Those features include Exchange, Crypto.com Cards, Earn, Credit, Pay, and the Wallet. We will go into these features in-depth in the utility section below.
The biggest news of late regarding Crypto.com is its MCO to CRO swap. This swap requires existing holders of MCO to convert their MCO to CRO. This has the effect of reducing the number of coins overseen by Crypto.com from 2 to 1.
Kris Marszalek, CEO of Crypto.com clarified the reasoning for this decision during his August 4 AMA, “Essentially, it’s about Crypto.com getting fully regulated as a business.” Kris went on to expand on this, adding that the switch was necessary due to compliance issues with MCO being a token born from an ICO. For those of you unaware, many cryptocurrency ICO offerings have been deemed unregistered securities offerings and are penalized severely, sometimes crippling the relevant projects. Assets deemed unregistered securities often struggle with obtaining licensing and regulation. This is undoubtedly a key compliance step for Crypto.com. You can read more about the details regarding the MCO to CRO swap here.
Utility and Use Case
Crypto.com is very careful about regulatory compliance. As a result, feature availability depends on your country of residence. All of the features besides the exchange are accessible through the Crypto.com app. You can opt into any feature available to you. We will go through the features one by one below.
- Crypto.com VISA Card
The Crypto.com Card is a physical debit card that can be used to make purchases and earn rewards in CRO. The card rewards are enhanced when you stake CRO. Cashback can be increased by staking larger amounts of CRO. Other rewards include full rebates on Spotify, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. The highest two tiers include additional discounts and benefits for Crypto.com cardholders. Check out the graphic below showing the card rewards as well as the required lockup amount in CRO.
These cards are currently available in the US, Europe, UK, and Singapore. Crypto.com continues working to add support for additional countries. - Crypto.com Earn
This feature allows users to earn rewards on staked cryptocurrency. Users can choose among three staking options: Flexible, 1-month term, and 3-month term. Flexible staking allows you to withdraw your staked amount whenever you want. 1- and 3-month terms require lockups of your staked amount for the respective amounts of time. In general, a longer lockup reaps a greater reward, and all staking rewards are instantly trade-able. Check out the graphics below showing the staking rewards for crypto earn. It is worth noting that p.a. (per Annum) is the rate that you would be receiving should you be staking that same amount for a year (four 3-month terms).
- Exchange
Crypto.com’s addition of its exchange in November 2019 established the platform as a one-stop-shop for digital finance. On the exchange, you can enjoy lower fees and other rewards when you stake CRO. The exchange offers trading pairs for most major cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, Crypto.com runs “The Syndicate”, a fundraising platform that offers select tokens to CRO holders. Crypto.com then donates the proceeds from the sale to the relevant crypto project. At the moment, you can only access the Crypto.com exchange via Desktop. - Credit
Crypto.com credit allows users to deposit crypto as collateral, and receive an instant loan. Like most other features of the app, the more CRO you stake, the lower interest rate you pay. - Pay
Crypto.com Pay allows merchants to accept crypto payments. Crypto.com users can pay Crypto.com merchants by using the app. Users simply scan the QR code, pay using crypto, and merchants receive payment in crypto or may choose among many fiat options. Of course, paying in crypto using Crypto.com Pay requires the merchant to have set up Crypto.com Pay for their services, and customers can only pay with the Crypto.com app. - Wallet
Crypto.com wallet allows you to hold on to your crypto as well as your keys. You can use the Wallet feature like you would any other mobile wallet, and you can use the funds in your wallet to use all the features listed above.
These cards are currently available in the US, Europe, UK, and Singapore. Crypto.com continues working to add support for additional countries.
Security
One of the most attractive aspects of Crypto.com is its security. Crypto.com holds 100% of user cryptocurrencies in offline cold storage. They also have a partnership with Ledger, one of the leading security solutions for cryptocurrencies. In addition, Crypto.com has secured over $360M in cryptocurrency insurance. US residents’ USD balances are also FDIC insured up to $250,000, and Crypto.com has no access to these funds. Crypto.com also became the first cryptocurrency to secure both ISO27001:2013 and PCI:DSS 3.2.1, Level 1 compliance. According to Jason Lau, CISO at Crypto.com, “…PCI:DSS Level 1 certification is one of the most rigorous globally recognized payment card security standards available… PCI:DSS Level 1 compliance coupled with ISO27001 shows our ongoing commitment to building trust with our customers.”
Pricing
At press time, CRO is sitting at $0.174709 per token. The price is up over 19% in the past 30 days and the maximum supply of 100 billion CRO. The CRO price chart displays arguably the most impressive price action ever seen on a cryptocurrency chart. CRO has recorded 23 weeks of green price bars meaning not a single one of those weeks saw a lower price at the end of the week compared to the beginning of the week. During that time, the CRO price has increased by 716% from a low of $0.0239 in March 2020 to a high of $0.1941 in August 2020.
What to Expect in the Future
In the most recent August 4 AMA, CEO Kris Marszalek noted that the number one priority at the moment is getting regulated. The secondary objective is the mainnet launch for CRO. And the tertiary objective is expanding the functionality and user base of the Crypto.com Exchange, which includes bringing the exchange to the United States. Kris also hinted that margin trading and more lending options would be coming soon.
Additionally, Crypto.com is preparing to bring its services to Canada in Q4, and Australia after that. We regularly review Crypto.com’s features and updates and recently covered how they have developed a recurring buy feature.
