What to Know:
- Crypto.com applied for a U.S. federal trust bank charter with the OCC, boosting long-term optimism for CRO.
- Cronos Smarturn upgrade enhances speed, gas efficiency, and smart account features for DeFi and GameFi apps.
- CRO price faces short-term pressure near $0.147 support as traders “buy the rumor, sell the news.”
Cronos (CRO) is under pressure again. Over the past 24 hours its price slipped about 3.38% to around $0.151, falling more than the broader crypto market which dropped roughly 2%. This fall comes after a weak month in which CRO has dropped nearly 19%. Yet, over the past week it did gain about 3.79%, showing signs of life before the dip.
CRO Rally Results in Profit Booking
One major event was Crypto.com’s application for a U.S. federal “trust bank charter” with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). If approved, the charter would allow Crypto.com to create Crypto.com Trust Company, a national trust bank that could offer regulated custody, staking, and institutional services under direct federal supervision. The goal is to serve both retail and institutional clients with higher compliance and security standards.
The company said this move is part of its effort to become “one of the most regulatory-forward players” in crypto. It would enable the platform to handle crypto and fiat assets within a single, federally chartered entity, something that could help attract large institutions, ETFs, and corporate clients. Traders initially welcomed this as a sign that Cronos’ ecosystem could gain legitimacy and liquidity in U.S. markets.
Earlier this month, Cronos announced a partnership with Morpho Labs to introduce lending vaults and RWA initiatives on its DeFi chain. This was seen as another step toward expanding the chain’s financial use cases. After these announcements, CRO’s price jumped, but traders have since started taking profits. Trading volume fell roughly 6.3% to $21.2 million in 24 hours, suggesting some are taking a breather and waiting for the next major trigger.
The Smarturn Upgrade
Cronos underwent a major EVM Smarturn upgrade yesterday on the mainnet. This is the v1.5 network upgrade, which will make transactions go faster, make managing accounts easier, and work better with EVM.
The Smarturn upgrade adds new account logic that lets “smart accounts” handle things like paying fees and getting multiple signatures automatically. It also makes gas use more efficient and increases throughput, which means that apps can run more smoothly and at a lower cost. This is an important step for scaling DeFi, GameFi, and AI-driven dapps on Cronos. The Cronos team said node operators, validators, and ecosystem partners are ready for the transition, and users will not need to take any action.
In the week before the upgrade, CRO’s price climbed nearly 10%, as optimism built up around the network improvements. Developers on the Cronos forum described the upgrade as an “important step toward the next generation of EVM chains.”
Still, upgrades often bring uncertainty. Some traders tend to “buy the rumor, sell the news,” which could explain the latest pullback. Investors are now watching whether CRO can hold its $0.147 support level, or if momentum will fade toward $0.14 once the hype cools down.
Wider Market Factors
It’s not just about Cronos price action. The whole crypto market is facing a cautious mood. Bitcoin’s dominance has risen to 59.07%, showing that money may be shifting into Bitcoin and out of altcoins like CRO. And the “Fear & Greed Index” for crypto is at a neutral 42, not giving a strong signal of risk-on appetite.
In technical aspects CRO faces resistance near its 30-day SMA ($0.172) and Fibonacci 38.2% retracement level ($0.176). The RSI (14-day: 39.75) shows oversold conditions but hasn’t triggered a reversal.
Conclusion
Cronos is at a bit of a crossroads. On one hand you have solid fundamentals like the upgrade, the DeFi collaboration, the regulatory ambition of Crypto.com. These are all positive long-term signals. On the other hand, short‐term momentum is weak: traders are pulling back, volume is shrinking, and the wider market remains cautious.
So while the decline of nearly 19% in 30 days is a sign of stress, it may not signal failure. Instead they reflect a mix of profit-taking plus uncertainty ahead of major developments.
Also Read: Dogecoin Price Struggles at $0.20 Amid Futures Liquidation and Whale Selloff
