In a move that left the entire crypto community in a state of disbelief mixed with anger (clients), giant Crypto.com announced in a blog post which was published across social media, that they will be making some big changes to their flagship product – the crypto VISA cards.
In a nutshell, the changes are an aggressive reduction of rewards given to card holders, in addition to a complete elimination of card CRO staking rewards.
The company’s “Earn” program rewards, and rewards for staking in DeFi remain unchanged for the time being.
Crypto.com Card Rewards Slashed
The announcement saw clients with lower-tier cards such as the Midnight Blue and Ruby still, move down to absolute 0% card rewards, while Royal Indigo and Jade Green holders would get 0.5%. Icy White and Frosted Rose at 1% and Obsidian at 2%.
As shown in the table below, the numbers are slightly better for staked rewards, but nowhere near the previous reward rates, some of which were as high as 8% for Obsidian holders.
In addition, the lower-tier card holders will have a hard cap on the maximum CRO staking rewards they can earn per month, as seen in the table below.
There is no monthly CRO Card rewards cap for Icy White, Frosted Rose Gold, and Obsidian cardholders for the time being.
CRO Staking Rewards For VISA Card Holders Are Completely Gone
In addition to the painful blow to reward rates, the company also decided to completely phase out the CRO Staking Rewards for VISA Card Holders program, which had card holders earned rewards for their staked CRO.
CRO staking rewards will no longer be offered to Jade Green, Royal Indigo, Frosted Rose Gold, Icy White, and Obsidian cardholders from the Effective Date. Cardholders who still have an active 6-month stake and who staked before 1 May 2022 13:00 UTC will continue to receive their CRO staking rewards until the end of their 180-day staking period.
The move has left many in the crypto community wondering what the staking incentives for CRO are going to be moving forward.
Anticipating the backlash, Crypto.com said in their statement:
Introducing these changes to the card program is a difficult decision. We are committed to continue exploring and forging new partnerships to unlock greater value and benefits for our cardholders such as our partnership with Dosh, a cash-back rewards platform in the U.S.
Crypto Community Uproar Over Crypto.com “Shooting Themselves In The Foot”
Many of the company’s clients across social media are attacking Crypto.com’s move, saying that the company has overextended themselves, spent too much on marketing and large scale investments, and now it’s the loyal clients paying the price.
“As soon as my XXX days are up, I’m going to unstake and take my funds elsewhere” was the predominant narrative on platforms like Reddit, with some calling out CryptoCom’s latest move as being equal to a rug pull.
The company’s native token, Cronos (CRO) has plummeted a whopping 15% following the announcement, with many now seeing it as less valuable due to the upcoming rate slashing.
