Pros & Cons: My Experience Using Crypto.com

*UPDATED August 23rd, 2020

I’ve been with Crypto.com (CDC) for over half a year now, having exhaustively done my due diligence before finally making the jump to create my account last year. Overall, I’ve had a solid experience using many of their features. I’ve earned cashback on purchases and consistently received interest on my crypto. By all accounts, I’m a happy camper.

While Crypto.com’s main selling point primarily revolves around its rewards-rich Visa Card, they offer far more — everything can be found their user-friendly app packed with live in-app support, crypto/fiat wallet for asset storage, basic trading (market buy/sell) for select pairings, crypto-backed loans (Credit), interest-earning accounts (Earn), coin-tracker, crypto payments/POS feature (Pay), and the recently released crypto exchange for trading (not in-app).

But do all these features live up to their promise? Or does their ambition outway their execution?

Although there are countless competitors opening their doors offering similar crypto debit cards, so far, they mostly fail to offer the vast array of features Crypto.com manages under one roof. They’ve quite literally created their own all-in-one ecosystem.

My personal interest in their service leans heavily into their Earn program. That is in fact what had initially caught my attention. The ability to earn interest on your idling crypto, as I’ve mentioned before, is an attractive one. And crypto.com does not disappoint, offering some of the best lending rates I’ve seen in the space, but they’re not perfect either.

So let’s go ahead and take a look under the hood, check out what the many pros and cons are using this platform so you can avoid potential pitfalls before making the leap!

$25 SIGN UP BONUS: If you’re interested use code ed9rh7q2a6 at sign up and we both receive $25 in CRO when you stake 2,500 CRO for a MCO Visa Card*

What I Like (PROS)

• Debit Card Cashback — Earn up to 5% cashback for every purchase made on your debit card, paid in CRO tokens, and provided nearly instantly with a notification on your phone. I personally have the 10,000 CRO tier Jade Green which allows me to earn 3% on all purchases. Any purchases I’ve made, the cashback is credited instantly. I’ve never had any issues with the card aside from one glitch that locked my card temporarily. The CRO you receive can be immediately traded for fiat or other crypto for those who prefer to diversify their funds.

• Other Card Perks — Cards provide various levels of reimbursement like Spotify and Netflix subscriptions, 10% back on Expedia (up to $50/month) and Airbnb (up to $100/month) as well as access to airport lounge, free foreign transactions, and ATM fees (with limits). With my Jade Green, I receive monthly reimbursements for service I already subscribe to like Spotify and Netflix. Over the course of a year, that equates to over $310 in savings. Not too shabby considering those fees would’ve come out of my pocket anyways. So if you’re like me and already use these services this is a no brainer perk. Whenever these services are charged to your card, similar to the cashback, you will receive the CRO reimbursement immediately in the app.
• Card Funding Options —Users are able to fund their Visa Card through fiat or crypto. For those who are keen on holding on to their stacks, they can connect their bank account and use their fiat currency to top-up their cards. For those who have an excess of crypto, they can market sell their crypto to pay for real-world transactions. You will receive the same perks with the card regardless of how your funding source.
• Limited KYC Requirements to Access App and Earn — You will be required to submit your Legal Name, Phone Number Confirmation, Copy of ID (Passport, Driver’s License, or Identity Card) and a Selfie Submission to use the Wallet App and Earn feature. If you wish to top up with a bank account or order the MCO Visa Card, you will be required to provide SSN and Address.
• No Staking or Visa Card Required for Earn — Once you have access to the app you can use the Earn feature without staking or ordering a Visa card. Your interest rates will be capped to the lower tier, but if you want to maximize your returns, you can always stake 10,000 CRO or more at your convenience.
• High-Interest Rates — Interest rates offered range from 1%-18%. CRO is at a staggering 18% with 10,000 CRO staked. Their rates for stablecoins are also impressive at 12% with 10,000 CRO staked or 10% without a CRO stake (3-month term). Regardless, both rates are higher than any interest offered by competitors like Celsius Network, BlockFi, or Nexo. Take a look at their current offerings below:

• Stable Rates — The interest rates will be adjusted from time to time but if you decide to lock your coins in a term, your interest rate is locked for the month or 3 months until the term ends. This applies regardless of whether rates are adjusted up or down.
• Variety of Coins Offered in Earn — Interest offered on a wide array of coins including CRO, DAI, BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, EOS, BNB, LINK, USDC, MKR, BAT, PAX, TUSD, PAXG among others. This is one of the larger selection of coins I’ve seen offered by a service. Where BlockFi only offers interest on select BTC, ETH, LTC, & Stablecoins, the only services that more options are Cred (around 38 coins) and Celsius Network (around 34 coins).
• Receive Interest Weekly, In-Kind — You will receive your interest every 7 days like clockwork for all Fixed and Flexible Term contracts you create. Interest will accrue In-Kind (BTC earns BTC, ETH earns ETH, etc) and be deposited into your Crypto Wallet where it is immediately accessible. For those interested in compounding their interest, you can create a new contract when you reach the minimum requirement. So if you deposit your funds on a Sunday, you will generally receive your interest on the following Sunday. At times, if you deposit funds earlier in the day, you may receive your payout a day early.
• CRO Stake Earns Interest — Although you will need to stake CRO tokens (locked for 180 days) in order to receive the Visa Card, if you stake 10,000 CRO you will receive 16% or with 100,000/1,000,000 CRO staked, you will earn 18% interest on your staked CRO which can quickly add up. That’s at a minimum 1,600 CRO (approx. $256=1,600*0.16) to 18,000 ($2,880)/180,000 CRO ($28,800) a year in interest you could be accumulating just to stake your coins for the card. Keep in mind, if you stake 1,000 CRO, you will not receive interest on your staked CRO.
• Accepted Anywhere — The card is accepted anywhere Visa is accepted. This means you don’t need to worry about merchants rejecting your payment — though there have been incidents reported of certain transactions being denied in the past, it does not seem common and I have yet to run into any issues.

• Crypto Credit — Allows users to put up their crypto (currently limited to BTC, CRO, XRP, XLM, ETH, LTC, or EOS) for an instant loan so you don’t have to sell off your coins creating a taxable event. There are no fixed repayment schedules or late fees and those with a 10,000+ CRO stake pay a discounted 8% annual interest where those without a stake pay 12%. I personally have not used this feature as it’s not offered where I am and haven’t needed loans as of yet. But hopefully, those restrictions will be lifted soon. Available to all Crypto.com Wallet & Card App approved users EXCEPT citizens & residents of Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, Switzerland. Malta, or USA.
• Crypto.com Exchange — A nice addition to those looking for the ability to break free of the limited trading capabilities of the CDC app. Users are able to access many incentives including zero-fee trading for the first 90 days along with trading fee rebates thereafter (from 20%-100% depending on hard-staked amount) and 2% Deposit Bonus on any crypto deposits (paid in CRO), 20% interest rates for hard-staking (180 days lockup) and access to soft-staking (interest paid on coins for simply holding on exchange) and Syndicate events (heavily discounted crypto sales). Keep in mind there are limitations to users in the USA, China, and Hong Kong as you will not be able to partake in the Syndicate events.
• Solid App UX — Celsius Network used to have the top slot, but I have to admit, Crypto.com has really outdone themselves in this department. Taking a very seamless and intuitive design approach, the app is a joy to use. There are some slight lag issues (loading balance) on app launch but it’s a great experience overall that is nearly unrivaled.
• Fiat Off-Ramp — US users can finally withdraw fiat funds from their accounts via ACH, free of fees. The only limitation being a total $2,500/day limit (2 transfers/day) and a monthly limit of $50,000 with 30 transfer cap. Singapore-based users can use SWIFT withdraws, but there are fees involved.
• Fiat Balances are FDIC Insured (USA)— Crypto.com keeps fiat deposits in a custodian bank that is secure and regulated. If you are a US-based user, your USD balance is covered by FDIC insurance, up to $250,000 USD. So this means if you transfer funds into your fiat wallet, according to them, you retain ownership of the currencies in that bank account because those accounts are held in your name (i.e. your fiat funds can’t be claimed by Crypto.com or its creditors).
• Only One Platform Token (CRO) — They recently discontinued support for their original utility token, MCO. Though it is a bit of a contentious issue currently, I believe it’s overall a positive move as having two separate tokens for a single service was largely confusing and unnecessary. Hopefully, this will help streamline the onboarding process as new users will better understand the advantages of their utility token to take advantage of all their features.
• Data Security — After the many platform data breaches users have recently suffered, it seems to be in stark contrast to Crypto.com’s data security protocols. Kudelski Blockchain Security Center conducted a thorough security test (external penetration testing and threat modeling along with risk control reviews). Crypto.com is the first cryptocurrency company in the world to have ISO27001:2013, PCI:DSS 3.2.1, Level 1 compliance and CCSS. Read more HERE.
• Cold Wallet Insurance/Security— Crypto.com has also secured cumulative cold storage insurance coverage up to $250 million to safeguard against theft or direct loss with a market leader in institutional-grade cryptocurrency custody services. 100% of user cryptocurrencies are held offline in cold storage. Crypto.com has a strategic partnership with Ledger, a globally recognized security and infrastructure solutions for cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications, and has integrated its institutional-grade custody solution, Ledger Vault, leveraging HSM (hardware security modules) and multi-signature technologies.
• No User Funds in Hot Wallet — The most susceptible to potential hacking, the hot wallet, consists of only corporate funds that leverage HSM and multi-signature key-generation technologies. Those funds are primarily used to ensure smooth day-to-day withdrawal requests from customers.
• Free Visa Card Option — For those looking to test out the Visa Card but without the risk of staking 1,000 CRO, you have the option to order the Midnight Blue Card. It doesn’t come with nearly as many perks (only 1% Cashback, NO Spotify or Netflix reimbursements), however, it’s a good starter for those more averse to risk.
• Free Card Upgrade — For US users, card upgrades come free of charge. In Singapore, they charge SGD $50 for upgrades.

What I Don’t Like (CONS)

• NOT a Credit Card — This is a common misconception, it is a Visa DEBIT CARD, NOT A CREDIT CARD. The card itself functions like a Prepaid Debit Card. You will need to load up enough funds for each transaction BEFORE you use it. This can make it challenging to use if you don’t plan ahead — you will either need to load the card with significant funds beforehand or top-up each time before use.
• In-App Live Support — I used to be very impressed with this feature. As a user of their app (at any level), you had the ability to open a new chat with a live agent. They have answered numerous questions and have been extremely helpful and patient in the past. Unfortunately, due to a recent uptick in their user base, what might have been a couple of hours wait for a response has now regularly become a multi-day wait. Sometimes you won’t even receive a response. They’ve promised to bolster their support team so hopefully, this is only a temporary issue.
• Withdrawal Fees — Unlike Celsius Network, Crypto.com charges withdrawal fees for all coins. Fees are fairly standard but nothing can beat free withdrawals.

• Reimbursements & Cashback in CRO — As attractive as the perks are, users will need to keep in mind all Netflix, Spotify, Airbnb, and Expedia reimbursements along with card Cashbacks are paid in CRO Tokens NOT CASH. This means for many users, they may be converting CRO to Fiat or other crypto, taking on the volatility of the CRO token along with fees during the trading process. Of course, if you are a fan of CRO and believe in their longevity and growth, receiving CRO may be an overall positive feature.
• Tax Implications — In a perfect society, we wouldn’t have to pay taxes on every crypto-related transaction. Unfortunately for many users in countries like the US, we will need to take into account our tax obligations if we choose to top up our debit card in crypto. This can become a very daunting task for those who use this feature regularly. Make sure to consult an accountant!
• Lockup Period for Earn — Crypto.com currently offers Fixed (3 & 1 Month) and Flexible Terms for their Earn program. This means, for those looking to really take advantage of their rates, you will need to lockup assets for as long as 3 months. There is no way to unlock your funds during this period, so beware! They do offer shorter contracts of 1 Month and Flexible Terms (free to withdraw your funds at any time) but they both offer progressively lower interest rates with Flex terms being the lowest of the 3 tiers. This makes Crypto.com more stringent than BlockFi or Celsius when it comes to accessing your funds which may turn off some.

• CRO Staking Requirement for Earn — Another additional element to consider, is in order for you to receive the highest interest rates in Earn, you must stake 10,000 CRO or more. Again, this is not required to take part in their Earn program, however, the difference in interest rates is roughly 2%. For example, BTC with 10,000 CRO staked receives 6.5% in a 3-month contract, whereas without, receives 4.5%. If you have less than 10,000 CRO staked, you will receive the same rates as no CRO staking.
• CRO Tokens Required for Visa Card — In order for you to receive the MCO Visa Card along with its benefits (Excluding the free-tier Midnight Blue Card), you will need to stake your CRO tokens for at least 6 months. This means whether the tokens depreciate or appreciate in value, you will NOT be able to unlock your funds during this period. It should also be noted, in order to continue receiving card benefits (Netflix & Spotify Reimbursements, etc), you are required to continue staking CRO tokens after the initial 6 month period.
• CRO Rewards, Unstake & Restake — If you unstake your CRO tokens temporarily at anytime, you’re rewards will be reduced to what’s reflected in the table below. To reactivate full CRO rewards, you will need to lockup your tokens for an additional 6 months before they can be withdrawn again.

• Minimum Earn Limits — In order to take part in the Earn program, you will need to meet minimum deposit requirements. The approximate amount overall is equivalent to $250 USD across most coins. CRO’s requirements are higher at 5,000 CRO which is roughly $800. The minimums are separated into Fixed and Flexible Terms, but requirements are currently identical for all Terms.
• Maximum Earn Limits — The max limits on Earn limits. The maximum cumulative amount allowed per user in Earn is $500k USD for 10,000 CRO tier which other than early crypto/wealthy investors, most users need not be concerned with (but if you do, congrats!).

• Bank Transfer Limits — Crypto.com has arbitrary ACH limits for those looking to transfer larger amounts to their fiat account. A total $7,500 a day limit (up to 3 transfers totaling this amount) with a total $25,000 rolling 30-day limit. Any transfers over this amount will be returned to your account.
• No Automatic Renewal of Earn Terms — Your Fixed Earn Terms will not renew automatically. At the end of the term, you will need to manually deposit your funds back into a fixed term. Hopefully, in the future, they will add the option to enable auto-renewals.
• Closing Flexible Earn Plan — Be warned, if you close your Flexible Earn Term before interest has accrued and is paid out to your Crypto Wallet, you will lose out on your interest for the entire period.
• KYC Required for Visa Card — Obviously, Crypto.com must abide by strict KYC/AML laws to offer their Visa cards and if you’re looking to stay off the radar, this is not a service you’ll be interested in.
• Cancellation Fee — Keep in mind for users who may potentially cancel their cards in the near future, they charge $50 to close your account.
• Abrupt Changes to Terms — Crypto.com has the ability to change their terms for any of their offerings at a moment's notice. And they have in fact done this in the past, announcing last-minute changes taking place in 1 or 2 days (like lowering their Earn interest rates). That being said, for Earn users, if you are locked into a 3 month or 1-month term, they will honor the rates until the term is up — so in that respect, they do encourage users to lock in interest rates while the getting is good.
• Force Swap from MCO to CRO — A controversial issue that has further split fans of the platform, users were forced to swap their MCO for CRO after a sudden announcement the original utility token would no longer be supported. Although they’ve provided an additional 20% bonus for those who swap their coins in a timely fashion, there was little communication of the upcoming change and many were not prepared for the sudden shift. Overall a positive move from a branding perspective and company direction, on the whole, the lack of communication and abrupt execution was problematic.
• Lack of Transparency — Crypto.com has a slight transparency issue; choosing not to release any figures or details related to their platform performance, growth, etc. It’s actually difficult to even see if they are profitable as they do not disclose numbers as a private company. They often site competition as being the reason they choose not to share this data — preferring to retain their insight gained through building their platform and their R&D efforts from the ground-up. A stark contrast to Celsius Network’s approach and unfortunate choice as they would most definitely attract more users if they ever reconsidered this policy.
• Trade Spread — There have been concerns about their spread on trades being too high. Some users have mentioned making smaller purchases in an attempt to avoid costs incurred from Crypto.com’s disproportionate spread on larger trades. I would simply suggest staying vigilante and double-checking other exchanges buy/sell rates when making purchases through their app to make sure you’re getting a fair price.
• No Auto Top-Up Feature — You will always have to manually load your Debit Card with funds before real-world transactions. They do not allow users to auto-convert funds/coins held in their wallets for Debit purchases. Kris, the CEO, mentions this feature is restricted due to their partnership with Visa. He goes on to say it is also preferable to not have auto-top up since cryptocurrencies are volatile and this allows users to have control over when and at what price you convert your crypto into fiat for purchases.
• Limited Card Top-Up Currencies — In the US, Currencies accepted for Debit Card Top-Up are limited to USD, BTC, LTC, ETH, XRP, PAX, TUSD & EOS. You cannot use their native CRO tokens to top up the Debit Card in the US which is unfortunate.
• Listing Unintegrated Coins — Crypto.com has listed countless coins on their platform, allowing users to buy and sell them with ease. However, if you thought you could withdraw all these coins to an external wallet you may be in for a rude awakening. Crypto.com has yet to offer deposit and withdraw capabilities for the following coins: QTUM, ONT, XSGD, ONG, USDM, RVN, KMD, ALGO*, NEO, ETC, LRC, WAVES, XLM, ONE, DASH, ADA, ARK, ARDR, ZIL*, XTZ, STRAT, NANO, LSK, GAS*, COS*, THETA*, TOMO*, & CHZ*. *Unavailable to US users
• Complicated Referral Program — Crypto.com’s referral program has gone through several iterations. Just recently it was downgraded from $50 to $25 for all users. It is often promoted as a quick way to make a buck. However, the bonus is $25 in CRO tokens (NOT $25 Cash) and additionally you will need to stake 2,500 CRO (worth around $160) for a MCO Visa Card to release your bonus. CROs will be released immediately upon ordering the card, however, you will need to keep your 2,500 CRO locked for 6 months before you have the ability to withdraw/sell them. More details HERE. A simplified program offering bonuses for a one time transaction or deposit would be easier to swallow. The current promo can feel misleading if it’s not properly explained and it’s a lot to ask those who are not familiar with the platform to commit $$$ for an extended stake term.
• Unclear Card Availability — Although they’ve quickly expanded countries where they ship their cards, including US, EU, Australia and APAC, many have previously ordered cards in countries where it’s unavailable — only to be notified of this after staking their CRO (or MCO) and ordering their visa card — now unable to retrieve their CRO (or MCO) tokens for 6 months. If you’re considering ordering a card, make sure you get clarification from support that the card is available in your market.

MCO/CRO Swap Issue

Some of you may have heard but MCO, their original ICO/utility token used for their debit card staking and cashback, was suddenly and unceremoniously discontinued by CDC management on August 3rd, 2020 after the app went down for maintenance.

They have correctly, in my opinion, decided to merge MCO and CRO into one streamlined utility token…CRO. Users must swap their MCO by the Nov 2nd deadline otherwise they’ll be left with a coin with no utility— worthless.

They announced the swap rate at 1 MCO=27.6439 CRO.

The formula used for this fixed swap rate is as follows:

1 MCO = (30-day VWAP of MCO / 30-day VWAP of CRO) x 1 CRO

(30 days between 4 Jul 2020 to 2 Aug 2020, both dates inclusive).

MCO holders who swap their balance before Sept 2 will receive an additional 20% in CRO — effectively turning the rate to 1 MCO=33.1726 CRO (essentially valuing MCO at $5.60).

At first glance, this seems generous enough.

Where things went wrong was with their decision to execute this process without consulting the community and force swapping users from a small market coin with 31,587,682 MCO total supply to 100,000,000,000 with CRO (CDC owning 80%). For users who were counting on the tokenomics of the limited supply of MCO have now effectively been forced into a highly diluted coin. Needless to say, it has upset many long-time MCO holders and ICO investors who already felt marginalized since CRO’s inception.

Things could’ve been handled better, but how? I’m not completely certain. What I do know is, they could’ve made longtime MCO holders whole since they were the individuals that made this entire project possible in the first place and thereby avoiding much of the backlash.

So does this swap heavily favor CDC’s interests? Certainly. CDC is a business after all and they must turn a profit to survive.

Sometimes I think we, as users, have a tendency of taking things for granted and forget we have taken full advantage of CDC’s vast array of perks to turn a profit ourselves — whether it’s their generous debit card cashbacks or industry-leading Earn rates — at the end of the day, someone has to pay for all these features we enjoy. If this is how it happens, I don’t believe it’s the worst outcome.

That being said, CDC really needs to work on communicating better in the future to help keep the peace within their community.

Final Thoughts

There are many moving parts to Crypto.com’s platform and its expansive services that go beyond the scope of this review. The idea of creating an entire financial ecosystem in a single platform is a fantastic, ambitious concept and they have largely succeeded — they are effectively bridging the gap between crypto and traditional finance — allowing users to spend their crypto on everyday transactions.

If mass adoption is to ever take place for crypto, I believe this is how it happens — at least for centralized options.

One thing is clear, Crypto.com has persevered in the face of immense doubt, facing an onslaught of criticism that wrote them off as a failure while they struggled to manufacture and deliver on their promise of a functioning crypto Visa Debit Card. And though, their rollout was hit with delays, they managed to ship functional Cards to Singapore and the US market (among others)— an achievement many doubted would even see the light of day.

As they make good on their promise to release cards in EU for Q1 of 2020 followed by expansions into Canada and Japan, they’ve scooped up an added side of ambition by launching their crypto exchange. Though the idea of an expansive ecosystem is definitely thrilling, I’m personally concerned about them biting off more than they can chew. A more focused approach building reliable, solid services would be my preferred approach. But considering the progress they’ve made so far, it may not be in the exact timeline they promise and take course corrections that raise eyebrows, I have little doubt they will deliver in the end.

For those curious to hear more about Crypto.com, I highly suggest checking out the recap of CEO Kris Marszalek’s AMA where he answers various questions from the community. There are multiple threads including the most recent from 8/2020, 7/2020, and 5/2020. I found it informative reading up on what they’ve accomplished, where they are headed — Kris has mentioned Crypto.com will be fully profitable in 2020 and they are looking to provide additional Defi solutions by December of 2020 which will be a big step in the right direction for the industry!

At the end of the day, you’ll have to decide whether Crypto.com is the right fit for you! Though you’d be hard-pressed to find any platforms as feature-rich as Crypto.com — do your own due diligence and make sure you stay informed!

If you found this article helpful, please consider using code ed9rh7q2a6 at sign up to earn $25 in CRO!*

Happy earnings!

*Crypto.com Referral Program — In order for both of us to receive $25 in CRO, you will need to buy and stake 2,500 or more CRO (approx. $200) for a 6 month period effectively ordering an MCO Visa Debit Card. The $25 CRO will be released immediately upon successful CRO staking.