Crypto.org Chain is a Tendermint-based protocol launched by Crypto.com, one of the largest consumer facing crypto-financial organizations in the industry. The protocol’s goal is to power a growing suite of financial products. By designing user-friendly interfaces for these products, the complexity of blockchain is abstracted away so that the general public can access cryptoassets as well as use smart-contract based products.
Crypto.com has been growing and evolving since the release of the first ever crypto-backed Visa card in 2018. Their Crypto.com Visa debit card was launched first in Asia, then in the U.S. in 2019, and across Europe in 2020 as well as Canada. Crypto.com was also the first cryptocurrency company in the world to achieve a series of international payment card and information security quality assurance standards (PCI, ISO/IEC). The company’s other digital asset products include a fiat-to-crypto exchange, payment solutions, and ports to DeFi.
Crypto.org Chain’s first goal is to support Crypto.org Pay, the company’s mobile payment solution. Initially the protocol will only support CRO transfers.
CRO is the native asset of Crypto.org Chain; CRO will be staked by validators to help secure the network, paid as rewards for participating in consensus on the chain, and used for CRO transactions.
Currently, CRO is built on the ERC-20 format. When the native token CRO is launched on Crypto.org Chain, it will exist in parallel with the previous token. There is no set target ration between the two assets. Although details have not been released, the hope is the native CRO will be used for the same purposes as the Ethereum-based coin.
The Ethereum-based CRO is currently used for three main functions:
The crypto.com team will encourage users to migrate to the new, native CRO token on Crypto.org Chain following mainnet launch. The CRO migration tool, along with Crypto.org Chain staking, will be available via the Crypto.com DeFi wallet.
Crypto.org Chain uses a proof of stake consensus method as it is Tendermint-based. Participants in Crypto.org Chain can run a node and participate in the network as validators, or can delegate their CRO to an active validator, earning a portion of rewards in exchange for helping to secure the network.
There are two types of nodes in Crypto.org Chain–validator nodes and full nodes. Validator nodes are responsible for validating transactions and committing new blocks to the blockchain, while full nodes retrieve data from the blockchain and provide it to the validator node client. Participating as a validator requires operators to run a cluster which has both types of nodes plus their supporting infrastructure.
The active set of validators is made up of the top 100 validator nodes by total stake, including self-bonded stake and delegation (together known as “voting power”). There is no minimum self-bond to join the network as a validator.
Validators charge delegators a percentage commission of rewards earned in exchange for performing the work of validation; the distribution of rewards to delegators is executed on-chain, as with most Tendermint based protocols. Rewards are not automatically re-staked. There is no minimum delegation or warm up period; though there is a 21 day unbonding period during which delegators do not earn rewards. Delegators can change their choice of validator without having to unbond.
There are four key considerations to optimize one’s participation in Crypto.org Chain:
A validator’s track record is an important factor in a delegator’s decision to stake tokens to a particular node. This track record includes a validator’s uptime history, whether or not it has been subject to any slashing incidents, the age of the validator, and the validator’s governance participation history.
There are two types of rewards in Crypto.org Chain:
All rewards earned by a validator are subject to the protocol’s community tax fee. The tax fees are sent to a community pool, which can then be spent on community spend proposals approved using Crypto.org Chain’s on-chain governance apparatus.
Both validators and delegators have to manually collect rewards by submitting a withdrawal transaction on-chain.
Crypto.org Chain includes slashing as a deterrent to prevent poor validator performance or malignant behavior. A validator’s self-bonded stake along with the funds staked by delegators are subject to slashing; the amount of CRO at risk of slashing is based on the total voting power of the validator.
All validators may survey the network for “misbehavior” by other validator nodes and submit evidence of slashable offenses to the protocol.
There are two main slashing conditions in effect on Crypto.org Chain:
CRO holders can participate in Crypto.org Chain’s on-chain governance, with staked CRO serving as the voting mechanism. Using the Crypto.org Chain commands within the CLI, participants can submit a proposal along with an initial deposit, deposit tokens to fund an active proposal, and vote for an active proposal. Delegators inherit the vote of the validator they are delegated to unless they submit their own vote, which overrides their validator’s vote.
Governance within Crypto.org Chain takes place in three phases:
Once the voting period has ended there are four outcomes which would lead to rejecting the proposal:
Otherwise, the proposal will be accepted and it will be implemented as part of the network’s software.
Bison Trails provides the expertise needed for early adopters to participate in this growing network. Having supported Crypto.com through the Crossfire testnet development and implementation, we are excited to support the mainnet launch of Crypto.org Chain with Participate Clusters, Query & Transact Clusters, and seed nodes.
“Bison Trails has been an invaluable partner to us through the launch of the Crypto.org Chain, supporting us from testnet to mainnet with deep technical insight and reliable infrastructure.,” said Kris Marszalek, CEO of Crypto.com. “This is a pivotal moment in our company that brings us closer to our vision of making crypto assets and transactions accessible to everyone. We look forward to continuing to work with Bison Trails.”—Kris Marszalek, CEO of Crypto.com
Bison Trails will operate the Seed Node Program for Crypto.org Chain’s initial stages, operating the “chatty” nodes that provide nodes coming online with a list of peers to connect to in order to help ensure stability in the network’s first year of mainnet operation.
This program was proposed by Bison Trails to ensure a smooth experience for the existing community of node operators as well as for new stakeholders onboarding post-mainnet launch, while supporting the chain’s decentralization and security.
Bison Trails has deep technical knowledge of the Crypto.org Chain, having been active participants on the Crossfire testnet and supporting mainnet launch. We provide secure, reliable validator node infrastructure to Crypto.org Chain to help optimize validation and governance participation.
Crypto.com has been growing and evolving since the launch of the first-ever crypto-backed Visa card in 2018. Having supported the Crypto.org Chain through the Crossfire testnet, we are excited to support mainnet launch. By providing expertise and easy-to-use infrastructure, we aim to make it easier for anyone to participate in the network.
Joe Lallouz, CEO
Bison Trails also supports a number of protocols besides Crypto.org Chain that are built on the Tendermint consensus engine.
Contact us to learn more about participating in Crypto.org Chain with Bison Trails.
Bison Trails is a blockchain infrastructure platform-as-a-service (PaaS) company based in New York City. We built a platform for anyone who wants to participate in 22 new chains effortlessly.
We also make it easy for anyone building Web 3.0 applications to connect to blockchain data from 30 protocols with Query & Transact (QT). Our goal is for the entire blockchain ecosystem to flourish by providing robust infrastructure for the pioneers of tomorrow.
In January, 2021, we announced Bison Trails joined Coinbase to accelerate our mission to provide easy-to-use blockchain infrastructure, now as a standalone product line. The Bison Trails platform will continue to support our customers. With Coinbase’s backing, we will enhance our infrastructure platform and make it even easier to participate in decentralized networks and build applications that connect to blockchain data.
Substrate ecosystem update 006
Apr 10 2021eth2 update 013
Apr 9 2021Why are people excited about NFTs?
Apr 8 2021Celo governance proposal 0024: Q&A with Protocol Specialist Viktor Bunin
Apr 1 2021Who’s who in eth2: Jacek Sieka from Nimbus
Mar 28 2021Who’s who in eth2: Paul Hauner from Sigma Prime
Mar 18 2021eth2 update 012
Mar 18 2021Bison Trails announces support for Mina
Mar 18 2021An introduction to Protocol Specialists at Bison Trails
Mar 15 2021Meet the Herd: Engineering Manager Arthur Burkart
Mar 12 2021Bison Trails newsletter 012
Mar 9 2021View more →