I upgraded from the Indigo Card (500 MCO Stake) to the Icy White Card (5,000 MCO) back in June. This came after one year of hodling with the previous card and saved me thousands of dollars with over 20 lounge visits and free Spotify and Netflix. If you'd like to take advantage of these benefits, you can sign up using my link and get USD 50 when you stake for a Ruby Red Card.
Fast forward to 2 August 2020 - when Crypto.com announced a force swap program for MCO to their other token (CRO). This caused pandemonium amongst hodlers like myself. Some of the uproars were from:
- Deliberate devaluation MCO to get a favourable rate for the CRO swap (some posts deleted here)
- Increased card staking requirements to over 2 times the previous limits
- MCO was a scarce asset as compared with CRO with 100 billion circulation
After all these uproars, an AMA was organised and they addressed a few issues regarding the swap:
- The swap was good because the company can focus on a single asset for utility
- More CRO were locked and staked as part of the swap
- Card staking requirements dropped by 80% (5,000 to 1,000 and similar for higher tiers)
My thoughts after the swap
1. CRO seems relatively stable
CRO used to be mooning before the swap. With most of the CRO still staked as part of the swap on the exchange, it allows people to participate in Syndicates where people can get coins such as BTC, BAT, and DAI at 50% off. If you'd like to sign up for Exchange, you can use this link to get up to US$ 50.
2. CRO still has some of the highest rewards
The Staking benefits for Card were at 6% p.a. for 500 MCO and below and 8% p.a. for 5,000 MCO. The revised rates now are at 16% for 10,000 CRO (equivalent to 500 MCO) and 18% for 100,000 CRO and above (equivalent to 5,000 MCO). The rewards are now better on top of 20% staking rewards on Exchange.
3. Less confusion within App
Previously, people can get confused from within the App as not everything is driven by MCO. For example, to get Gift Cards or CRYPTO.COM Pay, you will need CRO. To get better rewards for Earn terms, you need to stake MCO instead. Cashbacks are issued in MCO too. The focus on one utility token works well for consumers.
Summary
Crypto.com has lost customers' trust without transparency and definitely looked like they had been planning the swap and intentionally suppressing the MCO prices. In comparison, the card staking tiers are very affordable now and this may attract mass market consumption despite strong competition from Stripe. Crypto.com offers a very competitive staking interest at the moment and are in more locations than the other competitors. With Syndicate listings happen every other week - it is likely that the growth for Crypto.com will continue and it is worthwhile to potentially look at it for at least 6 months.
If you are keen to sign up, you can use this link or my referral code (7fpp30dh8x).
