The Cronos community has made a contentious decision to reinstate 70 billion CRO tokens that were permanently burned in 2021.
The proposal, heavily swayed by Crypto.com, received 62.18% of the votes in its favor, as reported by industry sources. This decision brings the overall CRO supply back to 100 billion.
Introduced earlier this month, the proposal sought to create a Cronos Strategic Reserve by reversing the previous token burn.
Proponents argued that this restoration aligns with the long-term vision for Cronos, facilitates ecosystem expansion, and could potentially finance AI-driven projects.
Debate Surrounds Passage of Proposal
Despite its approval, this decision has ignited significant backlash within the Cronos community.
Numerous members expressed their disapproval of the voting process, raising alarms about decentralization and the substantial influence exerted by Crypto.com. Sonic co-founder Andre Cronje commented:
“Tomorrow, Cronos transitions from a $2.5 billion market cap to an $8.5 billion market cap because of a single vote, and it all depended on one voter.”
Earlier reports indicated that community sentiment was predominantly against the proposal during initial voting phases, with many participants rejecting the idea outright.
However, in the closing hours of the voting window on March 16, a decisive influx of 3.35 billion CRO tokens from major validators—including Starship, Falcon Heavy, Electron, Antares, and Minotaur IV—shifted the tide in favor of Crypto.com’s stance.
Critics contend that this last-minute voting shift reveals underlying issues within Cronos’ governance framework. Some fear that such actions undermine the network’s credibility and might set a dangerous precedent for altering key economic decisions.
CRO supporter Wyll Bilderberg voiced his apprehensions about the implications of reversing a token burn, suggesting that such practices could jeopardize trust in tokenomics across other projects.
He remarked:
“I have no words; I see it as a significant blow to decentralization and can only hope that the community will benefit from this choice.”
Market sentiment mirrored these concerns; following the proposal’s approval, CRO’s price plummeted over 8% to $0.07, highlighting investor uncertainty regarding the decision.
At this time, Crypto.com has not released any public statements regarding the passage of the proposal.