The Cronos community recently made a controversial decision to restore 70 billion CRO tokens that were permanently burned in 2021. The proposal, which was heavily influenced by Crypto.com, passed with 62.18% of the votes, as reported by Mintscan. This move effectively increased the total CRO supply back to 100 billion tokens.
The primary goal of the proposal was to establish a Cronos Strategic Reserve by reversing the previous token burn. Proponents argued that this decision aligns with Cronos’ long-term vision, supports ecosystem growth, and could potentially fund AI-driven applications.
However, the decision to restore the burned tokens has not been without its fair share of controversies. Many members of the Cronos community have criticized the process, raising concerns about decentralization and Crypto.com’s significant influence. Sonic co-founder Andre Cronje voiced his disapproval, highlighting the potential impact on Cronos’ market capitalization.
The voting process itself has also come under scrutiny, as early community voting showed strong opposition to the proposal. In the final hours of the voting period, a surge of 3.35 billion CRO tokens from large validators shifted the outcome in favor of Crypto.com’s position. This sudden shift has raised questions about Cronos’ governance structure and the implications of reversing critical economic decisions.
Critics fear that the approval of the proposal sets a dangerous precedent for other projects to follow suit, potentially eroding trust in tokenomics and decentralization. Market sentiment reflected these concerns, with CRO’s price dropping over 8% to $0.07 following the decision.
As of now, Crypto.com has not publicly commented on the passage of the proposal. The controversy surrounding the restoration of the burned tokens underscores the challenges of governance and decision-making in decentralized networks. It remains to be seen how this decision will impact Cronos and its community in the long run.