29 August 2025

It has been an exciting week for altcoin enthusiasts. While Bitcoin has been rangebound, altcoins – led by Ethereum and Solana – have flourished under uncertainty. Ethereum hit a new all-time high while Solana raked in a cool 18% gain. The market does seem to suggest a cool-off is upcoming before the next leg begins. 

There is one altcoin that didn’t have this memo yet. Cronos (CRO) did a solid 114% move this week driven by a string of partnerships and on-chain indicators.

We cover this in our Hot Take today.

Top-3 stories of the week:

1

2

3

The newsletter is put together by Giottus Crypto Platform. You can read all the previous issues of Cryptogram here.

Was this newsletter forwarded to you?

WEEKLY MACROS

• Total crypto market cap - $3.85 trillion - Unchanged    

• Bitcoin price - $111,039 - DOWN 1.81%

• The dollar index (DXY) - 97.99 - DOWN 0.78%

• Bitcoin Dominance - 58.26% -  DOWN 1.77%

• Crypto Fear and Greed Index - 50 - Market is in Neutral State

THE HOT TAKE

Cronos enters the big league 💪

Cronos (CRO), the native token of Crypto.com’s EVM-compatible blockchain, has seen a dramatic turnaround this week. Trading activity spiked in tandem. Open interest on CRO futures and derivatives hit a three‑year peak (~$75 million), and retail engagement soared: Messari reports that “CRO mindshare” jumped over 800% in one day, with several thousand community votes on CRO sentiment. Notably, nearly half of CRO’s trading liquidity came from South Korea (42%), reflecting heavy interest on exchanges like Upbit.

This price revival coincided with two key events: 

• Cronos 2025–2026 roadmap

• Trump Media / Crypto.com partnership 

Both provided fresh catalysts for CRO’s value. Let’s unpack what happened this week.

New Roadmap and Infrastructure Upgrades

Cronos announced an ambitious roadmap for 2025-2026 this week, aiming to become a major player in the blockchain space. The plan focuses on two main areas: bringing real-world assets like stocks onto the chain and increasing retail adoption through Crypto.com's massive user base. Key elements include tokenization of real-world assets (from stocks and commodities to insurance and forex) on Cronos, with instant T+0 settlement and on-chain yield. The roadmap also highlights AI integration: Cronos is building tools (an “AI Agent SDK” and Proof-of-Identity standard) so that AI “agents” can trade and manage assets natively on-chain.

The team has set clear targets for 2026, including $10 billion in real-world assets on-chain, 20 million users, and accumulating 20 billion CRO through public market channels. Recent upgrades have already improved performance by cutting block time and gas costs, which has led to a 400% surge in transactions.

Trump Media Partnership & Institutional Strategy

The most immediate catalyst for CRO’s recent surge has been the Trump Media–Crypto.com partnership, announced earlier this week. President Trump’s social media company (Truth Social) has agreed with Crypto.com and Yorkville Acquisition Corp (a $5 billion equity SPAC) to create Trump Media Group CRO Strategy, Inc. – a publicly traded vehicle (ticker MCGA, “Make CRO Great Again”) that will build a multi‑billion‑dollar CRO treasury. 

• Initial Funding: The deal includes an initial purchase of roughly $1 billion in CRO tokens, which is approximately 19% of the total supply, along with a $5 billion equity line of credit for future acquisitions.

• Staking Flywheel: The new company will stake its CRO holdings and reinvest the generated yield into buying more CRO, creating a continuous demand loop that will reduce the available supply.

• Truth Social Integration: CRO will be integrated into the Truth Social platform, where its 2 million active users can earn and spend the token as a reward for engagement.

• Market Impact: The announcement led to an immediate surge in CRO's price, which rose over 40%, nearly doubling its market cap from $6.8 billion. This demonstrates strong market confidence in the institutional backing and strategy.

Market Trends: Price, Volume and Activity

Following the Trump Media partnership announcement, Cronos saw a spectacular price rally, nearly tripling in value in just a few days. The price, which had been sitting around $0.16, surged to over $0.20 within hours and continued its climb to approximately $0.38 yesterday. This rapid ascent marked a massive 130% gain in a single week and propelled CRO back into the top 20 crypto assets by market cap.

This explosive price action was supported by significant market activity. Trading volume soared to around $2 billion in 24 hours, more than doubling prior levels. Technical indicators also turned decisively bullish, with CRO breaking key resistance levels and chart patterns suggesting a strong breakout. While the rally is a clear validation of the new institutional strategy, it’s worth noting that CRO remains well below its 2021 all-time high of $0.965, and market opinions are mixed. Some believe it's destined for the top 10, while sceptics caution that the rally's dependence on political events could be a source of future volatility.

A Deeper Look at Cronos's On-Chain Growth

In the midst of its recent market frenzy, Cronos's on-chain fundamentals have been quietly but impressively strengthening. Thanks to upgrades like the July "POSv6" update, the network has seen its block times slashed tenfold to a rapid 0.5 seconds and gas costs fall by a factor of 10. These performance enhancements have directly fuelled a 400% increase in daily transactions and a 150% rise in daily active users in the first half of 2025. This means Cronos is now handling several times more transactions than it did earlier in the year, signalling real and growing adoption by developers and DeFi users.

While its DeFi ecosystem is still modest compared to larger chains, Cronos is showing significant momentum. The network's Total Value Locked (TVL) has climbed to nearly $1 billion, with its major protocols like Tectonic and Veno Finance seeing increased activity. Daily trading volumes on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) have been in the tens of millions, surging by over 300% this week. On-chain user numbers are also on a positive trajectory, with daily active addresses more than doubling since the beginning of 2025. With the potential to tap into Crypto.com's massive user base of over 150 million customers, Cronos is positioning itself to expand its real-world footprint far beyond its current scope.

A Multi-Pronged Strategy for Institutional Adoption

Beyond the Trump Media partnership, Cronos is making major moves to attract institutional capital. The ecosystem is actively pushing to get a US spot ETF for CRO approved, with Crypto.com's partner Canary Capital having filed an S-1 in May, 2025. This would give mainstream investors regulated access to CRO's price action. Crypto.com is not just a partner; it's the core of the strategy, providing custody and liquidity for the potential ETF. This effort is part of a broader push to open multiple channels, from private trusts to token sales, to funnel institutional money directly into CRO.

Crypto.com is also weaving Cronos ever more tightly into its platform. Cronos Chain is the blockchain sidechain for the Crypto.org ecosystem, with CRO serving as the central token for fees and staking. The recent move to pause a 70 billion CRO token burn was a strategic decision to free up supply for these new, large-scale initiatives. 

Hype, Risk, and the Future of Cronos

The Trump affiliation brings both unprecedented hype and significant risk to the Cronos ecosystem. On one hand, having the sitting US President with substantial crypto holdings publicly backing CRO is a massive draw, generating immense attention. On the other hand, it polarizes the asset's image and ties its fortunes to political events. While the current US administration appears to be crypto-friendly, any shift in the political landscape could create volatility, as regulators have historically been cautious about politically charged tokens. Investors are now in the unique position of watching not just market trends but also election cycles and potential regulatory actions.

Beyond the political sphere, Cronos still faces classic crypto market risks. Its DeFi ecosystem, with a TVL of around $900 million, is relatively small compared to industry leaders, and a broader market downturn could still lead to price retracement. A key factor to watch is the future supply of CRO: a significant portion of its total supply, around 70 billion tokens, is currently locked up and will be re-issued by 2026. How the team manages this eventual unlock will be crucial in balancing supply and demand. Ultimately, while institutional deals have provided a new level of stability and buy pressure, the classic volatility of the crypto market has not disappeared.

Key Takeaway

Cronos is experiencing a dramatic resurgence, fuelled by a multi-pronged strategy that combines institutional-grade partnerships with aggressive on-chain development. The most significant catalyst is the landmark deal with Trump Media, which established a new publicly traded company (ticker: MCGA) to build a multi-billion-dollar CRO treasury. This unprecedented institutional backing has already sent CRO's price soaring, nearly tripling it in a matter of days. By integrating CRO directly into the Truth Social platform and creating a continuous staking-and-buyback flywheel, the partnership aims to create both predictable institutional demand and a massive new user base.

Beyond the headlines, Cronos’s on-chain fundamentals also appear to be solid. Recent upgrades have drastically cut block times and gas fees. These improvements are critical for its ambitious 2026 roadmap. While the Trump affiliation adds a layer of political risk, the overall strategy of leveraging Crypto.com’s massive user base and pursuing public market channels like a potential US spot ETF indicates that Cronos is shifting from a speculative asset to a core holding for a publicly traded business.

Was this newsletter forwarded to you?

If you have any questions or feedback for us, write to us at [email protected]. You can check out the previous issues here.

Disclaimer: Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions. Please do your own research before investing and seek independent legal/financial advice if you are unsure about the investments.