Cronos Labs Proposes to Unburn 70 Billion CRO Tokens Previously Destroyed in 2021

Cronos Labs, the team behind the Cronos blockchain linked to cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com, has put forward a governance proposal that seeks to reissue 70 billion CRO tokens

Cronos Labs, the team behind the Cronos blockchain and cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com, has put forward a governance proposal to reissue 70 billion CRO tokens that were previously burned in 2021.

These tokens are currently valued at over $5.3 billion and would be placed in a “Cronos Strategic Reserve.”

The proposal, if approved, aims to restore the total CRO supply to its original 100 billion tokens.

It also seeks to fund the Cronos roadmap, which includes an exchange-traded fund (ETF) application that Crypto.com is preparing to launch for CRO later this year.

The strategic reserve would be used to support the “ambition” of making America the capital of crypto. This statement references recent reports by President Donald Trump suggesting the creation of a United States crypto reserve.

“In 2021, 70 billion CRO were burnt in one of the most burn transactions in history,” the Cronos team wrote in their proposal.

The burn was carried out ahead of the Cronos mainnet launch to support decentralization efforts.

Today, an ambitious proposal was published for voting on the Cronos POS governance forum. The community is invited to vote on a bold plan to restore Cronos' Golden Age, with a massive investment allocated to support Cronos Roadmap (incl. its ETF) and America’s ambition to become… pic.twitter.com/7i06DnTx7T— Cronos (@cronos_chain) March 3, 2025

The new proposal would bring the total supply back to the initial 100 billion CRO. The reissued tokens would be placed in a strategic reserve escrow wallet on the Cronos proof-of-stake blockchain.

If the proposal passes, the reissued CRO would be subject to a vesting period. Different timeframes have been mentioned in reports, ranging from 5 to 10 years, with tokens unlocking linearly throughout this period.

However, the proposal does not provide specific details about future plans for the CRO set aside in the strategic reserve. This lack of clarity has contributed to community concerns about the proposal’s purpose.

Community Backlash

Community members have expressed largely negative reactions to the proposal on platforms like the Cronos Discord and X (formerly Twitter).

Those on Discord expressed concern over the optics of the move, with one member saying, “I feel like the optics on this are terrible. It makes sense to siphon off some revenue to support the ecosystem but not in this way.”

On X, one user questioned whether this move would dilute the token supply. Another user expressed concern over the lack of detail in the proposal.

Early voting results from the 100 active Cronos validators also indicate significant opposition to the proposal.

Of the 16 validators who have voted so far, 95.7% of voting power has been cast against the proposal, while only 3.45% of voting power has voted in favor.

The current voting represents around 673 million CRO tokens. This early trend suggests the proposal faces an uphill battle to gain approval.

This proposal contrasts sharply with a previous governance decision in November 2024, where Proposal #28 to burn even more CRO tokens to reduce supply passed with an overwhelming majority of 95%.

That proposal saw 61 out of 100 validators vote in favor of burning 50 million tokens, which were valued at around $9 million at the time.

This history of reducing supply makes the current proposal to increase supply particularly controversial.

CRO Price Down

CRO’s price has reacted negatively to the proposal news. The token dropped 8% in the 24 hours following the announcement, trading at around $0.076. This represents a 92% decline from its all-time high of $0.96 reached in November 2021.

According to reports, Crypto.com is also planning to file an exchange-traded fund (ETF) application for CRO. This move aims to capitalize on the growing institutional interest in cryptocurrency investments.

Crypto.com initially launched the Monaco Coin (MCO) as part of its Visa Card program before transitioning to its proprietary blockchain. The company rebranded to Cronos in February 2021, with the mainnet launching in November 2021.

The CRO token currently has a circulating supply of approximately 27.3 billion tokens. The maximum supply cap stands at 30 billion tokens, giving it a market valuation of about $2.4 billion before the proposal.

Neither Crypto.com nor Cronos Labs responded immediately to requests for additional comment from CoinCentral.