rewrite this title Crypto.com CRO faces backlash amid 70 billion burned token restore, 87% early voters say ‘no’

Cronos, the Layer 1 blockchain linked to Crypto.com, faces strong opposition over a proposal to restore 70 billion CRO tokens burned in 2021.

Early voting results on Mintscan show that 87% of participants have rejected the plan.

Cronos’ strategic reserve proposal

The proposal states reinstating the burned tokens will create a Cronos Strategic Reserve.

Crypto.com’s CEO Kris Marszalek said:

“Cronos allocates a $5 billion stockpile to make America the World Capital of Crypto.”

Cronos developers argue that this aligns with Cronos’ long-term vision and supports its growth strategy. If approved, the total supply of CRO would return to 100 billion, with the tokens held in an escrow wallet.

The reserve would be subject to strict control measures, including a new five-year lockup period. This would extend the vesting timeline to 10 years, incorporating a linear vesting mechanism that distributes monthly tokens via the Cosmos SDK on Cronos POS Chain.

Additionally, adjustments to CRO emission parameters would ensure validator rewards remain unchanged despite the increase in circulating supply.

The voting process is scheduled between March 3 and March 17, 2025, with implementation expected to follow shortly after.

Meanwhile, Cronos’ move is part of its broader strategy to position itself as the leading blockchain for AI-driven applications. The project also aims to secure a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) listing and plans to launch a stablecoin in Q3 2025, followed by an ETF application submission in Q4.

Community pushback

Despite Cronos’ strategic goals, the proposal has sparked controversy.

Mintscan data shows that more than 500 million CRO tokens have been used in the vote, with 490 million—87%—opposing the move. Only 4%, or around 25.5 million CROs, have supported it.

The backlash has been evident across social media, where Wyll Bilderberg, a CRO advocate, said:

“A burn is a burn, burnt tokens shouldn’t be brought back to life. I’m almost never against anything happening on Cronos, but today, I’m against it, big time! If this pass, it’s will just be a confirmation that Cronos is heavily centralized, and so can’t be trusted.”

However, the proposal has unexpectedly impacted CRO’s market performance. According to CryptoSlate data, the token surged 15% during the reporting period, reaching $0.08434 as of press time.

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