Cronos Labs Proposes Reissuance of 70 Billion CRO Tokens

Cronos Labs, which oversees the Cronos blockchain associated with Crypto.com, has proposed the reissuance of 70 billion CRO tokens.

Cronos Labs, which manages the Cronos blockchain linked to Crypto.com, has put forward a proposal to reissue 70 billion CRO tokens. These tokens were originally burned by the team in 2021, and they are now valued at over $5.3 billion.

Aiming to bolster the U.S.'s standing in crypto and further Cronos's ambitious plans, Cronos Labs is introducing the “Cronos Strategic Reserve.” This initiative follows President Donald Trump’s recent announcement of establishing a U.S. crypto reserve.

“In 2021, we burned 70 billion CRO in one of the most significant burn transactions in history,” the Cronos team wrote.

“Today, we will reissue an equal number of tokens on Cronos [proof-of-stake] and place them in a Cronos Strategic Reserve escrow wallet. This will restore the total supply to its original 100 billion CRO.”

After approval, Cronos Labs will subject the reissued CRO to a 10-year vesting timeframe, gradually unlocking them.

The proposal provides limited details on how the team intends to utilize the CRO allocated for strategic purposes.

Many within the Cronos community have expressed criticism of the proposal on Discord and X. One user on Discord made the observation that “the optics on this are terrible,” while another user on X posed the question, “How is this not just diluting the supply?”

Out of the 100 active Cronos validators, 16 have completed early voting. With 95.7% against—amounting to roughly 673 million CRO—and only 3.45% in favor, the proposal has faced strong rejection from the community.

Cronos governance proposals have previously impacted the token supply.

In November 2024, the community approved Proposal #28, one of three proposals aimed at reducing the CRO supply through burns—an approach that contradicts the new initiative.

With 95% of the voting power—surpassing 8 billion CRO—validators heavily supported the proposal, leading to a 50 million CRO burn valued at approximately $9 million at the time.

Currently, CRO is trading at $0.076 following a 8% drop in the last 24 hours. Its price has decreased by 92% from its record high of $0.96 reached in November 2021.

Despite the community's opposition, the proposal for the 70 billion CRO reissuance has passed. Cronos Labs has confirmed that the Cronos Strategic Reserve will proceed as originally planned. The vote passed with 62.18%, which is a vote in favour of the proposal, and 17.61% voted no, and 20.11% abstained, and a small 0.11% voted veto.

With all validator votes now tallied, the team has stated that they will be vesting the reissued tokens over a decade. They will unlock these tokens incrementally to support key strategic projects.

As the reissuance officially commences tomorrow, Cronos' tokenomics will undergo a major transformation.

While some see this move as a catalyst for long-term progress, others are concerned about the implication of dilution and a potential price decline for CRO.