Ethereum (ETH) vs. Cronos (CRO): Which Is Better January 2024? (2024)

This article will take you through Ethereum and Cronos in detail, ensuring you have all the information you need to make an informed investment decision.

Let’s get to it!

History

So, where did it all start? How did Ethereum achieve the kind of success it has? What is Cronos? We’re going to explore these questions and more in the following paragraphs:

Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum was first described in a white paper written by Vitalik Buterin in 2013. Following this whitepaper, several others joined to help Vitalik realize his vision. After getting into the public eye in 2014, it wouldn’t be until July 30, 2015, that Ethereum would finally be released to the public. However, you could purchase coins in 2014.

Ethereum was initially on a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism. However, it has since upgraded to a proof-of-stake mechanism. This occurred in September 2022, and the latter is faster and more energy efficient. This significant change became known as “the Merge” in the crypto community.

Cronos (CRO)

CRO is the native token of the blockchain and was designed by CRO Protocol Labs. However, you may know them as Crypto.com. You may have also heard of Monaco: this was what they were called before the rebranding into Crypto.com in 2018.

What Are They, And Why Were They Created?

What is Ethereum used for? And Cronos, does it serve a similar purpose? How well do they serve their functions? Aren’t they both just forms of decentralized currencies? We’re going to look at these questions broadly in the next section.

Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum is a decentralized platform that’s powered by blockchain. The Ethereum network lets users make transactions, store non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and earn interest through staking. If you don’t already know, staking is a way to earn rewards for holding a cryptocurrency.

ETH is the native cryptocurrency of the blockchain and is used as a payment method on the network. The Ethereum Virtual Machine is the software that executes the smart contracts on the network and computes its state after a block is added.

Cronos (CRO)

Crypto.com is a financial platform that offers cryptocurrency trading services, decentralized finance options, and payment services. CRO is the cryptocurrency that powers the applications on the blockchain. Unlike Bitcoin, Cronos is not just a decentralized currency but serves a practical purpose.

What’s interesting about Cronos is that it can’t be mined. However, you can purchase it on Crypto.com.

Price History

It’s crucial to look at the price history of a cryptocurrency so you can get an idea of what type of volatility you can expect with your investment.

Ethereum (ETH)

At $1,289.33 today, Ethereum has increased over $1,000 in value. In 2017, it was valued at even less than $10; in 2018, it spiked to $1382.76. However, it dropped and held an average price in the hundreds of dollars until 2021.

During the 2021 bull market, Ethereum’s value increased dramatically, with two spikes, the highest of which being close to $5,000. Of course, as it does, Ethereum’s value plummeted after the bull market, leading to its value today.

Cronos (CRO)

Unfortunately, since 2019, the price of a CRO token has mostly stayed the same. While it was valued at $0.06474 back in March 2019, it was worth around $0.02-$0.05 throughout the rest of the year. Its most drastic change occurred in 2021 when at its peak, it was valued at $0.08904.

Market Cap

We calculate the market cap by multiplying the number of circulating coins by the cryptocurrency market price of a single coin. It’s the total value of every currency that investors have mined.

What does the market cap look like for ETH and CRO? Let’s look at this next.

Ethereum (ETH)

When writing this, Ethereum boasts a market capitalization of over $157,000,000,000, placing it comfortably at the second rank of all global cryptocurrencies.

This crypto coin is second only to Bitcoin.

Cronos (CRO)

CRO boasts a market cap of $1,624,821,345, placing it at rank 28 of the world’s cryptocurrencies.

Daily Transactions

Read on as we look at the number of transactions Ethereum and Cronos have had in the last 24 hours.

Ethereum (ETH)

In the last 24 hours, ETH has had $6,561,895,720 worth of transactions.

Cronos (CRO)

In the previous 24 hours, CRO has been involved in $14.61 million of transactions.

Block Size

The maximum block size of a cryptocurrency is a crucial factor to consider. Larger block sizes are better for huge sequential read and write workloads. However, smaller block sizes offer better performance for small file and metadata-intensive workloads.

Ethereum (ETH)

Currently, Ethereum boasts a block size limit of 1 MB. However, in the past, block sizes were about 80 KB.

Cronos (CRO)

The block size of the Cronos chain was doubled back in July, moving it from 20 million to 40 million gas.

Similarities

Like Ethereum, the Cronos blockchain makes use of the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. This mechanism is known to be faster than the proof-of-work consensus mechanism.

As a competitor to Ethereum, Cronos is also quite similar in that it’s based on smart contracts and employs similar blockchain technology.

You can even import smart contracts and apps from Ethereum. New users may find this to be a very convenient feature.

Differences

Cronos can process transactions at a faster rate per minute than Ethereum, and it is also able to offer cheaper transaction fees. Some may decide to purchase their crypto assets on Cronos for this reason.

However, this is liable to change in the future, so there are better choices than the abandonment of the Ethereum network and the subsequent mass adoption of the Cronos network.

Risks

Are there any risks to investing in these cryptocurrencies? This is, of course, aside from the looming threats of regulation that many of us have become aware of. If you’re unfamiliar, cryptocurrency has been getting the red flag. China has completely banned all cryptocurrency. And India has put a 30% capital gains tax on cryptocurrency transactions.

Ethereum (ETH)

One of the significant threats to investing in Ethereum is the introduction of new competitors and the growth of present ones. Although they’re attempting to rectify the problem through improvements such as their change to proof-of-stake and sharding, there’s still a chance that strong competitors will outshine this network.

Cronos (CRO)

When investing in Cronos crypto assets, your primary concern should always be volatility. Make sure that you don’t put all your eggs in one basket. But instead that you include this cryptocurrency within a balanced portfolio of investments. That’s the best piece of investment advice we can give you.

Cryptocurrency, while potentially profitable, can also result in significant losses for those who invest too heavily.

Where to Buy

Surprisingly, you can buy many cryptocurrencies outside of just online crypto exchanges. But is that the case for Ethereum and Cronos? Let’s look at this next.

Ethereum (ETH)

You can purchase ETH on various platforms, including Binance, Kraken, Gemini, and Bitstamp. And Ethereum is also available outside of online crypto exchanges. You can also purchase it at one of two places:

1. Ethereum is available at crypto ATMs: these will either look like conventional ATMs or be built into a stand.
2. You can also buy Ethereum on financial applications such as Paypal.

Cronos (CRO)

You can purchase CRO tokens on various cryptocurrency exchanges. Of course, you can buy CRO on Crypto.com, but it’s also available on Coinbase.

Exchanging Ethereum (ETH) for Cronos (CRO)

You can exchange your ETH tokens for CRO on an exchange platform such as SimpleSwap. This process is comprised of several steps:

• First, you should select the cryptos you’d like to exchange, in this case, ETH and CRO.
• Next, you should enter the recipient’s address to which you want to send CRO coins.
• Finally, you should add the address you want to send ETH.

This process may vary depending on the platform you opt for.

Future Plans

What does the future hold for these two cryptocurrencies? Do their developers have anything in particular in store for users and investors? Let’s look at this in the next section.

Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum plans to do something called sharding. Sharding lets blockchain companies process more transactions per second. Shards grant Ethereum a greater capacity to store and access data. This will likely occur sometime in 2023 and should help give the blockchain a competitive edge.

At the time of writing this, and likely due to Ethereum’s commitment to improvement, we anticipate the value of Ethereum to improve over time.

Some predictions forecast that ETH will be valued at a minimum of $11,812,57 by 2030, or $12,582.95. However, predictions may vary dramatically.

Depending on when you’re reading this, it may be a good idea to do your own research, as price predictions may change.

Cronos (CRO)

While it’s hard to say exactly what the future of the Cronos ecosystem looks like, there are quite a few projections of what it might be valued at. While some place it at around $5,00, more conservative estimates put the crypto coin at $3.20.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/ethereum-for-beginners/history-of-eth-the-rise-of-the-ethereum-blockchain

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/monaco-mco-cryptocurrency.asp

https://cointelegraph.com/ethereum-for-beginners/what-is-ethereum-a-beginners-guide-to-eth-cryptocurrency

https://101blockchains.com/ether-eth/

https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/cronos/

https://simpleswap.io/crypto-to-crypto/eth-cro

https://primexbt.com/for-traders/ethereum-price-prediction-forecast/

https://bitnation.co/forecast/ethereum-price-prediction/