Important events
Mar 102023
CRO/USD: Silvergate’s Collapse Continues Crypto.com’s Banking Problem
- Crypto.com could be negatively impacted by the slew of crypto bank collapses seen over the past year.
- The exchange has already lost the ability to provide USD-based banking services in the European Economic Region.
- The platform’s CRO token has fallen by 82% over the past year.
Crypto.com may only be the 14th most used crypto exchange in the world by volume, but it commands a large presence in the space. In part, due to the major marketing push it has made over the past few years – with Matt Damon as the face of its advertising. The world of crypto however, has changed dramatically since then, and the ongoing downfall of the crypto banking sector could spell trouble for Crypto.com.
What’s the issue?
Crypto bank Silvergate announced on Wednesday that it plans to go into voluntary liquidation, after the collapse of FTX and subsequent industry sell off had made its position unsustainable. Due to its partnership with the exchange, the collapse of Silvergate could have further implications for Crypto.com’s ability to receive inflows of fiat currency.
The Singapore-based exchange already lost its ability to provide banking services in USD in the European Economic Area – now only able to accept deposits in EUR. Silvergate’s collapse has removed yet another on-ramp for its crypto banking services, and some believe the continuation of this trend could cause the company to encounter liquidity issues.
Where does Crypto.com stand?
As it stands, the exchange holds around $3.6bn, in addition to $776m worth of stablecoins. Last week alone, Crypto.com saw net inflows of over $248m. As such, it doesn’t sound like the exchange portion of the company is in any immediate danger. It also managed to survive the collapse of FTX, despite having ties to the failed exchange. That being said, its native CRO token fell roughly 35% in the wake of the collapse along with the wider market.
Rival exchange Kraken is also preparing to launch its own crypto bank at some point this year, the timing of which has been described by some as less-than-ideal. Whatever the fate of Crypto.com’s banking arm, it’s certainly not alone in the uncertainty.
Illustration by TradingView
Nov 142022
A costly mistake
An erroneous transaction of almost all of Crypto.com’s ETH supplies has users wondering whether the platform can be trusted – just when trust in crypto is nearing new lows.- Crypto.com has admitted to accidentally sending 320k ETH to rival exchange Gate.io on October 21. The sum (80% of the platform’s ETH worth $400m when sent) was returned by Gate.io, but the price of ETH had risen in the interim, causing only 285k ETH being sent back and marking a roughly 35K ETH loss.
- The funds were supposed to be sent to a cold storage wallet, and users are now questioning whether the exchange can be considered trustworthy. The platform’s CEO Kris Marszalek however dismissed the concerns as “FUD” (fear, uncertainty and doubt), kinda in the same way Sam Bankman-Fried dismissed concerns as “unfounded rumors”...
- News of the mistake comes at a pretty bad time for the exchange. In the wake of the FTX collapse, pressures are mounting on exchanges to provide “proof-of reserves”, which Crypto.com did on Friday – though It showed 20% of the platform’s reserves to be in the meme token SHIB, which didn’t exactly inspire confidence.
RISE / Flickr
Aug 312022
Fortune Favors the Accurate
“Get in loser, we’re going shopping” – the woman who accidentally got $10.5m in her account from Crypto.com. You would not wanna be the guy that fumbled that transaction would ya?- An accounting oopsie has cost Crypto.com $10.5m, and we can only hope that we’re the beneficiaries of their next one. In May 2021, an Australian woman requested a $100 refund from the crypto exchange, only to find herself receiving a mind-boggling $10.5m in her account. So of course, she picked up her mate and went on a shopping spree.
- That’s all well and good, except now Crypto.com wants their money back and it’s sitting in the form of her brand new mansion. It took over seven months to notice the mistake, and now the woman is getting sued and chased by the courts to return the money.
- Elsewhere, exchanges are getting targeted by regulators once again. A House Committee is upping the pressure on federal agencies and crypto exchanges to protect consumers from tricksters, asking five exchanges (including Crypto.com) for proof on how they safeguard consumers against scams – makes sense given over $1bn in crypto fraud has taken place since January 2021.
Jp Valery / Unsplash / Dollars
Aug 182022
Regulators roll over
Regulators have finally rolled over to allow Crypto.com to operate in the UK, but market downturns mean it still has some hurdles to jump.- Hugely popular exchange Crypto.com has registered with the FCA, meaning it can now offer crypto its asset services within the UK. It’s been a bumpy road getting here tho, as the ASA banned two Crypto.com advertising campaigns in the UK in January after claiming they were “misleading”.
- The platform’s CRO token however hasn’t been feeling the love with a 5% drop since this time yday. Traders might be feeling its value is slightly inflated after the company’s aggressive marketing push over the last year or so.
- The firm has felt the pressures of the recent bear market, firing 260 staff or 5% of its workforce in June as a result of “market conditions”. There’s now talk of another round of Crypto.com layoffs coming soon which, despite being kept quiet, are reportedly going to be even more drastic than the first.
Rodrigo Santos / Unsplash
Jul 122022
A thinning slice of the crypto rewards pie
Crypto.com continues to navigate the blustery winds of the current crypto winter, cutting its rewards yet again on its platform.- Crypto.com slashed its earn rates on stablecoins on Monday as firms around the cryptoverse wind down the hot, bull market mania of 2021 and countenance the frosty reality of 2022. Interest on stablecoins USDC, USDT, and DAI will drop from 8% to 6.5% for those depositing over $400, and 6% to 4.5% for those depositing under $400.
- Reward rates for allocations that’ve already been placed will remain unchanged, but moving forward, it’s clear the days when folk could earn 20% APY on stablecoins are well and truly over – at least for now. In a time when crypto hedge fund 3AC imploded and crypto lender Celsius is continuing to feel the heat of potential insolvency, the move is one of risk management.
- This marks the fifth time the exchange has announced revised rates in 2022. Native token CRO fell 5% on Monday, potentially following a similar trend to when it dropped by 10% on May 1 upon news that the platform would drastically reduce its CRO Cards rewards. The token continues to hover above all-time lows of just $0.09.
Ussama Azam / Unsplash
Jun 292022
Crypto.com and the bear market blues
Crypto.com removes an array of altcoins from its rewards program as interest-bearing tokens become a source of problems across the space.- 15 tokens were cut from Crypto.com’s Earn program on Tuesday, while the centralized exchange also revised the rewards earned on stablecoins to slash the potential interest by 8% in comparison to only a few months ago. It comes not that long after the exchange attempted to cut reward rates on its Visa card but was forced into a U-turn by its user base.
- Among the tokens dropped, DOGE, SHIB, and XTZ were the most noticeable, at a time when other reward-orientated platforms like Celsius have got into financial difficulty, to put it mildly. The Earn program did, however, also welcome three new tokens: FTM, NEAR, and ZIL.
- CRO fell 3.5% on Tuesday, still flirting with all-time lows of $0.098 it made on June 18. Amidst macroeconomic pressure, the exchange was forced to lay off 5% of its staff earlier this month, which in fairness, is much smaller than Coinbase's 18%.
Illustration by TradingView
May 032022
Cronos investors cut up their cards
Crypto.com cuts rewards on its staking program, leading investors to take the scissors to their investments.- The crypto exchange said this weekend it would cut rewards on its Visa-based cards by an average of 69.5% across the board. The lowest tier would get exactly 0% interest, while other low tiers will see rewards capped at $25-50 per month. The highest tier (which requires $400k CRO staked) would see interest drop from 8% to 5%.
- Crypto.com swiftly made a U-turn and decided to scrap the tier-based changes less than 24hrs later, after investors voiced their displeasure, splitting rewards so private members will be able to earn 8% APY, while non-private cardholders will earn 4%. It’s still less than before, but Crypto.com says it’s necessary for the “long-term sustainability” of the product.
- CRO token dumped 20% in the two days following the announcement while investors called their cards “metal waste”. The token has recovered a touch from the low on Monday of $0.26, but it might be too late to salvage investors' shredded cards from the trash.
Mar 232022
Crypto.com takes aim at sports once again
Global exchange Crypto.com has once again made a play for domination of the sporting world, but it has some competition.🔍 Key points:
- The exchange has announced a FIFA World Cup sponsorship deal, giving it marketing rights to the tournament in Qatar in November, and joining the big leagues with the likes of Coca-Cola, Visa, and Adidas.
- It’s one of many sport sponsorship deals Crypto.com has made lately, starting with its iconic Crypto.com arena, but others want in too – rival platform FTX landed a partnership with tennis player Naomi Osaka on Monday, and has been making some plays of its own elsewhere. Who will stand at the top of the podium, we wonder.
- Are sporting leagues and crypto becoming a dream team? Many professional sporting teams suffered heavy financial losses during the pandemic as events were canceled, and have been signing digital asset deals across the field to rebuild revenues.
Fauzan Saari / Unsplash
Jan 202022
An inconvenient attack
The Crypto.com CEO gets stuck with the unpleasant task of announcing the crypto world’s latest hack.- CEO Kris Marszalek confirmed that 400 accounts were compromised on Crypto.com over the weekend. He added that all affected accounts have now been reimbursed.
- The losses are estimated to be around $15m in Ether, though some sources are suggesting that the heist could have made off with closer to $33m.
- Its native coin hit a two-month low on Wednesday after losing nearly 3%, now down 7% since the news broke on Sunday evening.
Jan 182022
Cryptic.com
Crypto.com investors see red after the platform mysteriously pauses its withdrawals.- Its native token lost 4.27% on Monday to hit a two-month low, slowly eking out its Coinbase listing gains and losing its new arena buzz.
- Withdrawals were suspended after “suspicious activity” on the network was pointed out on social media by users who noticed up to $15m in total missing from their various crypto wallets.
- Crypto platforms seem to be constantly facing technical difficulties as the popularity of the digital product grows – approximately $10.2bn was stolen in 2021 in crypto hacks, rug-pulls, and scams.
Jan 072022
Crypto.com upsets the UK
The U.K. piles onto Crypto.com’s 2022 sell-off as the native token struggles to maintain last year's gains.- The token is down 6% in Friday morning trading, now down over 12% in January so far as part of a wider crypto sell-off.
- It’s been drawn into a crypto crackdown across the pond. The U.K.’s ad regulator has banned two of its promos for being “irresponsible” and “misleading”.
- Some think the coin has simply risen too fast after its 230% gains in November. As investors dump risky bets in the face of a hawkish Fed and rising Covid cases, it looks like this could be one of the first to go.
David Dibert / Unsplash
Dec 012021
Crypto.com is widening its global footprint
Crypto.com wants to expand its U.S. presence, and it's willing to spend the money to get there.- It’ll spend $216m to buy two U.S. exchanges, the Nadex derivatives exchange and The Small Exchange (which boasts Citadel as an investor).
- It comes the day after a new partnership with U.S. bank Silvergate to allow institutional clients to use US dollars on the exchange.
- Its native token was up 7% in early Wednesday trading. It gained 227% last month after a headline-grabbing naming rights deal with the Crypto.com arena (formerly the LA Staples Center).
Illustration by TradingView
Nov 182021
Crypto.com enters the big leagues
It’s nothing but net for Crypto.com’s native token after the the LA Staples center gets renamed as the Crypto.com Arena.- Its native token flew 67% on Wednesday to hit new all-time highs, now up 167% this month.
- Crypto.com is the new sponsor of the iconic LA arena, taking over from Staples in a deal said to be worth up to $700m – the biggest naming rights deal in U.S. sports history.
- This is only the beginning. Crypto.com wants to be a “top brand” in coming years, with plans to target Apple and Nike partnerships next.
Joakim Honkasalo / Unsplash
Nov 152021
Crypto.com Coin gets crazy
Crypto.com’s native CRO token rides the momentum of its Coinbase listing to crazy new highs on Monday.- CRO is up 112% this month and is up over 560% from its lowest levels in July after Coinbase listed the token.
- Crypto.com gives Coinbase a run for its money as a crypto exchange on the world stage, and often the rivals won’t list their competitor's native currency – clearly the demand was big enough to sway Coinbase this time around.
- Crypto.com recently launched a $100m advertising campaign for itself and its crypto, with red carpet celebs like Matt Damon vouching for the platform.