Cronos ¹

What is Cronos?

Crypto.com's original EVM chain built on Cosmos, not Ethereum. The mature chain with established DeFi but older tech. The key difference: Built on Cosmos SDK with IBC bridges to Cosmos ecosystem, while Cronos zkEVM is their new Ethereum L2 with ZK tech. Think of this as v1, zkEVM as v2.

Best for: DeFi users wanting established protocols, Cosmos ecosystem connectivity via IBC, projects needing proven infrastructure.

Technical: Cosmos SDK chain with Ethermint EVM, Tendermint consensus, ~30 permissioned validators, IBC enabled.

• Security & Data Availability

  • Tendermint PoA consensus with ~30 validators selected by Crypto.com.
  • 5-6 second finality, not decentralized — validators are permissioned.
  • All data on-chain (unlike zkEVM's off-chain Validium).

• Infra & Execution

  • Cosmos SDK with Ethermint-based EVM module.
  • IBC enabled for Cosmos ecosystem bridges.
  • Some EVM quirks due to Cosmos backend (WebSocket issues, event indexing).

• Performance

  • Few hundred TPS real throughput.
  • Low stable fees ($0.01-0.10).
  • 5 second block times.

• Use Cases

  • Major DeFi: VVS Finance (largest AMM), Tectonic (lending), MM Finance
  • Established ecosystem: $500M+ TVL, mature protocols since 2021
  • Cosmos connectivity: IBC bridges to entire Cosmos ecosystem
  • Crypto.com integration: Direct fiat onramps from exchange

• Trade-offs

  • Centralized validators controlled by Crypto.com.
  • Older tech stack compared to modern L2s.
  • Cosmos-based quirks affect some Ethereum tooling.
  • Not an Ethereum L2 — separate security model.

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