Cronos (CRO) is the native cryptocurrency token of Cronos Chain, a decentralized, open-source blockchain developed by the Crypto.com payment, trading, and financial services company. CRO is mainly focused on providing utility to the users of Crypto.com's payment, trading, and financial services solutions. CRO owners can stake their coins on the Crypto.com Chain to act as a validator and earn fees for processing transactions on the network. Additionally, CRO coins can be used to settle transaction fees on the Cronos Chain. The Cronos Chain is an Ethereum-compatible blockchain, built on the Cosmos SDK, utilizing a proof-of-authority consensus mechanism and supports the Inter Blockchain Communications (IBC) protocol which allows it to bridge to the Cosmos ecosystem of DApps. It was launched in November-December 2018 by Crypto.com, a company founded in 2016 by Kris Marszalek, Rafael Melo, Gary Or and Bobby Bao.