Crypto.com slashes rewards to ‘ensure long-term sustainability’

Crypto.com has announced changes to its CRO Card rewards program, effective from June 1, 2022.

The changes include a reduction in cashback, a monthly cap on the cashback receivable, and a phasing out of CRO staking rewards. The firm also recently changed its Crypto Earn program by cutting staking rewards.

The community has expressed disappointment over the changes, with many social media users signaling their intent to move on. However, Crypto.com says the changes are necessary to ensure “ensure long-term sustainability.”

What happened to Crypto.com?

Crypto.com was called the world’s fastest-growing cryptocurrency platform last year. This can be attributed to a global ad campaign fronted by Matt Damon, but most of all, its generous rewards program.

The firm operates a tiered card system, starting with a free Midnight Blue card going up to the Obsidian card, which is obtainable by staking $400,000 of CRO for 180 days.

The higher the card tier, the more generous the rewards on offer. Obsidian cardholders count 8% cashback on card spending, reimbursement on subscription services from Spotify, Amazon Prime, and Netflix, and the highest staking reward percentages, among their benefits.

But from June 1, 2022, the firm will cut many benefits. For example, a Jade Green/Royal Indigo cardholder (with an active CRO stake) currently enjoys 3% cashback when spending on the card. However, this will be cut in half from next month to 1.5%.

In addition, monthly rewards for Jade Green/Royal Indigo and Ruby Steel cardholders will get capped at $50 and $25, respectively.

Finally, staking CRO to obtain the card yielded a generous staking reward for users, up to 12% p.a for Icy White, Frosted Rose Gold, and Obsidian cardholders. But Crypto.com plans to cut this to zero after the changes take effect.

“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.”

The community responds

Social media is awash with chatter on the changes. The most upvoted comment on this Reddit post spoke of the suddenness of the changes. The poster said it wouldn’t be so bad if the changes were fazed in gradually to give people time to think things through.

“The issue here is how abrupt they did it, they could’ve made an announcement that they will gradually decrease the staking rewards so people still have time to think if they will stick with it or not.”

Another Reddit thread on the changes turns up similar comments. One poster called the move too aggressive. Adding that, Crypto.com will “undoubtedly lose a lot of people.”

“Their slashing of rewards have been too agressive, as agressive as their marketing campaign, seems like that’s their modus operandi

They will undoubtedly lose a lot of people.”

While it’s widely accepted that the generous rewards couldn’t last forever, the general consensus is that Crypto.com did not treat customers reasonably by giving users adequate time to adjust.

Since Sunday, the price of CRO has swung 25% to the downside, amid the wider weekend market sell-off. Although Bitcoin has since bounced, CRO remains under selling pressure at the present time.

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