How has your experience in financial services and fintech influenced the development of the Cronos ecosystem?
My background has shaped a focus on addressing the needs of retail crypto consumers, beyond just financial use cases. The Cronos ecosystem encompasses decentralised finance (DeFi), NFTs, gaming, and memecoins. Within DeFi, we’ve emphasised the composability of assets and protocols, a key advantage of blockchain technology that sets it apart from traditional fintech.
In traditional finance, only the institution holding your assets can offer related products. In contrast, blockchain’s open architecture allows any protocol to create solutions leveraging assets across platforms.
A good example of this is the “triple yield” concept introduced on the Cronos zkEVM blockchain. When a user bridges CRO from Ethereum to Cronos, it is converted into zkCRO, a liquid-staked version of CRO generating APR. This is the first layer of yield. The user can then invest zkCRO into any DeFi protocol for additional APR, forming the second layer. Finally, users earn loyalty points for activity on the chain, which are later converted into further APR, creating a third yield layer. This level of composability is unique to web3.
What is the technology behind Cronos and its three blockchain networks—Cronos POS Layer 0, Cronos EVM L1, and Cronos zkEVM L2?
Cronos is a blockchain ecosystem developed in collaboration with Crypto.com and more than 500 application developers, reaching an addressable user base of over a hundred million globally. The Cronos ecosystem includes three chains.
Firstly, Cronos zkEVM, a newly launched layer 2 network secured by Ethereum and powered by ZKsync technology, went live in August 2024. It attracted over $50 million in bridged assets from Ethereum within its first week.
Secondly, Cronos EVM, an Ethereum-compatible layer 1 blockchain built on the Cosmos SDK, holds approximately $500 million in DeFi total value locked (TVL) and around $1 billion in total assets.
Finally, Cronos POS is a pure Cosmos app chain focused on payments and NFTs, governing the CRO gas token, with about $1.5 billion in staked user assets.
How did the market downturn after Cronos Mainnet’s launch in 2021 impact the ecosystem’s strategy, and what adjustments were made?
Cronos EVM layer 1 launched during a peak market period, attracting millions of new crypto users and quickly becoming a top 10 blockchain. However, the subsequent market downturn, exacerbated by the Terra and FTX crises, led many of these users to distance themselves from crypto.
Despite this, we remained confident that mainstream users would return to web3 and continued to build for them. As crypto interest resurges in the latter half of 2024 and into 2025, we anticipate this strategy will prove successful. Simultaneously, we’ve supported the development of applications catering to sophisticated crypto traders and memecoin enthusiasts, such as Veno (liquid staking), Fulcrom (perpetuals), Nexabot (telegram trading), and Puush.fun (memecoins).
What are some recent developments and strategic priorities for Cronos?
The launch of the Cronos zkEVM network is a key focus this year. Early adopters often look for strong incentives to explore new networks, and Cronos zkEVM has benefited from several attractive campaigns, including the Pioneer Program, trading competitions, and high APR rewards on certain cryptos. The Pioneer Program is a priority in the short term.
Looking ahead, we aim to foster the development of cross-chain applications that leverage Cronos’ interoperability with other chains. Cronos zkEVM is part of ZKsync’s Elastic Chain interoperability framework, addressing liquidity fragmentation on Ethereum layer 2s. Additionally, Cronos EVM and Cronos POS, being part of the Cosmos ecosystem, offer further cross-chain opportunities.
About: Ken Timsit is the Head of Cronos Labs, a $100M Web3 accelerator, and ecosystem developer. Before joining Cronos in 2021, he held senior roles at Consensys and spent 15 years at The Boston Consulting Group, later co-founding an e-commerce startup in Southeast Asia.
Cronos is a leading EVM-compatible layer 1 blockchain built on the Cosmos SDK, supported by Crypto.com and over 500 developers, aiming to make web3 adoption easy and safe for the next billion users. It ranks among the top 10 chains by total value locked, powered by the Cronos ($CRO) cryptocurrency, with over 1 million users and billions in assets.