Crypto.org Chain Becomes the Cronos POS Chain

TL;DR

As of October 16th, 2023, the Crypto.org Chain, one of the leading blockchain networks of the Cosmos ecosystem, becomes the Cronos POS chain, where POS stands for Proof-of-Stake.

This rebranding aims to bring more coherence into the Cronos blockchain ecosystem, which consists of:

• Cronos ($CRO), the native utility token of the Cronos ecosystem,
• Cronos POS blockchain (formerly known as Crypto.org), the proof-of-stake Cosmos chain positioned as “layer zero” of the Cronos ecosystem,
• and Cronos EVM blockchain (abbreviated into Cronos blockchain), the leading Ethereum-compatible blockchain of the Cosmos ecosystem, home to hundreds of decentralized applications.

The root domain of the Cronos POS chain becomes: cronos-pos.org. The Cronos EVM chain keeps its existing domain (cronos.org).

All URLs and endpoints will be updated gradually during the next several weeks.

Existing Crypto.org URLs will initially redirect to the new cronos-pos.org domain URLs. We expect the old URLs to be removed completely in 3 months, so by the end of January 2024.

At the protocol level, nothing changes. The Cronos POS network continues to deliver on its track record of security, performance, and reliability together with its world-class network of validators and partners.

To review the mapping from old to new URLs, please visit https://docs.cronos-pos.org/for-users/new-brand-and-domains.

The logo of the Cronos POS chain keeps the instantly recognizable hexagon commonly associated with the Crypto.org chain in wallets and on third party websites, while emphasizing the connection to the rest of the Cronos ecosystem:

Why Change?

The Cronos EVM blockchain and Cronos POS blockchain share a common mission, to serve and grow the #CROFam user community as we usher in an era of mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies.

With shared goals powered by a common Cronos ($CRO) utility token, we can bring coherence to the user experience and developer ecosystem by bringing the two chains together under one roof.

With its new brand, the Cronos POS chain joins a multi-layered ecosystem that connects the Ethereum and Cosmos universes with a complete suite of decentralized technologies:

• Cronos POS chain is the layer-zero network that guarantees the security of the Cronos ecosystem. It is the native issuer of the $CRO utility token, secured by a vast network of more than 100 nodes representing ~350 M US$ in staked value, in the top 3 of all Cosmos chains. The Cronos POS chain has securely validated around 33 M transactions, with an average transaction fee of 0.00001 US$.
• Cronos (the EVM blockchain) is the Ethereum-compatible, permissionless, programmable layer-1, home to more than 500 project teams who have created decentralized applications powered by smart contracts. The Cronos EVM chain has securely delivered more than 70 M transactions for more than 1 M users to date, and secures around 300 M US$ of DeFi Total Value Locked.
• On top of Cronos EVM blockchain acting as the EVM-compatible settlement layer, many layer-2 chains can be deployed by application creators. For example, Caldera offers a platform of optimistic layer-2 rollups on top of Cronos EVM.

Overall, the Cronos ecosystem is a powerful platform that can support thousands of transactions per second across multiple layers.

The Cronos brand unites Cronos POS and Cronos EVM and paves the way for future synergies leveraging some of the breakthrough innovations originating from the Cosmos ecosystem, such as inter-chain accounts and inter-chain security.

(Re)Introducing the Cronos POS Chain

Cronos POS is a public, open-source and permissionless blockchain — a fully decentralized network with high speed and low fees, designed to be a public good that helps drive mass adoption of blockchain technology through use cases like Payments and NFTs.

Cronos POS is a top 3 proof-of-stake blockchain network of the Cosmos ecosystem, when measured by total value staked. It is extremely low cost, with transaction fees around 0.00001 US$, making it ideal for peer to peer payments and high volume NFT collections. Its native token, $CRO, is a top 2 cryptocurrency among protocol tokens of the Cosmos ecosystem.

Cronos POS is used by world-class ecosystem partners like Crypto.com, Ledger, Coinbase and Alchemy, and 100 active validators with a multi-year track record of reliably supporting proof-of-stake networks.

Crypto.com, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges with 80 M users worldwide, uses Cronos POS to power its Crypto.com Pay and Crypto.com NFT products.

As a blockchain protocol built on the Cosmos SDK, Cronos POS is ideally placed to work with the broader Cronos ecosystem and explore new potential use cases for its highly performant proof-of-stake consensus, utilizing Cosmos SDK modules like IBC, inter-chain accounts and inter-chain security.

Phased Approach

The rebranding of Crypto.org Chain into Cronos POS will proceed in 3 phases:

Phase 1: On October 16th, 2023, Cronos POS becomes the official name of the blockchain protocol formerly known as Crypto.org Chain. The following URLs are introduced:

• Main website: cronos-pos.org, which replaces crypto.org
• Documentation: docs.cronos-pos.org, which replaces docs.crypto.org
• Mainnet Block explorer: https://cronos-pos.org/explorer replaces https://crypto.org/explorer
• Testnet-4 Block explorer: https://cronos-pos.org/explorer/croeseid4/ replaces https://crypto.org/explorer/croeseid4/
• Testnet-5 Block explorer: https://cronos-pos.org/explorer/croeseid5/ replaces https://crypto.org/explorer/croeseid5/

Phase 2: During the next few weeks, all remaining crypto.org endpoints and URLs will be replaced by cronos-pos.org endpoints and URLs. Changes that require user action will be published on the Cronos POS blog post and in Discord. You can monitor the progress and the mapping of old and new URLs at this page: https://docs.cronos-pos.org/for-users/new-brand-and-domains.

Phase 3: Around the end of March 2024, all endpoints of the Crypto.org domain will be deprecated.

Aside from the URL changes, users should not expect any meaningful disruption during this transition period.

Looking Ahead

The Cosmos ecosystem continues to be an exciting space that both Cronos EVM and Cronos POS are committed to. Cronos POS will continue to contribute to the open-source projects that keep the Cosmos SDK at the forefront of blockchain technologies.

Advances in node storage and IAVL implementation, interchain security (ICS) and interchain accounts, will be evaluated synergistically by both chain communities and will contribute to new use cases and improved performance across the board.

All possible synergies between Cronos EVM and Cronos POS blockchains can be explored. We look forward to hearing the thoughts and feedback of the community regarding Cosmos SDK functionalities and synergies that should be explored jointly by the Cronos EVM and Cronos POS protocols. Please share your ideas on the Discord server.