Cronos Soars 40% After Trump Media Ties In, But Not Everyone’s Cheering

Cronos (CRO), the native token of Crypto.com’s Cronos Chain, just had its loudest comeback since the bull days of 2021. The trigger? Donald Trump announcing a $6.4 billion “CRO Strategy” alongside Crypto.com and Yorkville Acquisition. The market response was immediate—Cronos ripped 40% higher, touching levels last seen in May 2022 before pulling back.

Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), fresh off its controversial public debut, revealed Tuesday that it will launch a joint Cronos treasury worth billions. The optics are clear: Trump’s orbit is explicitly hitching itself to a crypto ecosystem that’s been fighting to stay relevant.

Within hours of the news, CRO jumped from $0.20 to $0.23—its sharpest move in nearly two years. By Wednesday, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek took to X, bragging that the “CRO Strategy” had juiced the token’s value by 40%, putting Trump Media’s CRO stash at over $1.5 billion. Even Trump Media’s stock (DJT) rose 5% in sympathy.

Cronos jumped before pulling back as traders took profits, Source: BNC

Why This Matters

• CRO’s First Big Headline Since 2021: Cronos has been a sleeper chain, mostly overshadowed by Ethereum, Solana, and Binance’s BNB. This Trump deal is the first mainstream narrative to put CRO back in the spotlight.
  
• Cronos Market Cap Surge: With the rally, CRO’s market cap punched through $7.8 billion, moving it into the top 30 cryptos by size. That’s a healthy rebound but still a shadow of its former glory.
  
• Still Far From ATH: Let’s not kid ourselves—CRO’s peak was nearly $1 in late 2021. Even after this pump, it’s down ~300% from those highs.
  

Mixed Reactions: Moon Boys vs. Skeptics

Predictably, the news split the community:

• Optimists see this as Cronos’ ticket to mainstream adoption, with some voices calling for CRO to be a “permanent top 10” coin.
  
• Skeptics point to the political baggage: CRO is now partially tied to the whims of Trumpworld, meaning its price action could get dragged into partisan drama. As one trader posted: “Great, so now my portfolio depends on politicians. Just what crypto needed.”
  
• Tokenomics Drama: Critics also resurfaced frustration over the canceled 70 billion CRO burn, which had been promised in 2021 but was scrapped in March 2025. Some accused Crypto.com of repurposing those tokens for deals like this one: “You gave them 6 billion CRO from the tokens meant to be burnt forever.”
  

A Political Trojan Horse?

This deal isn’t about CRO at all—it’s about Trump trying to graft himself onto crypto culture. By leveraging a mid-tier chain like Cronos, Trump Media gets exposure to Web3 without competing head-on with Bitcoin or Ethereum communities, where loyalties are harder to sway.

For Crypto.com, the risk is reputational. Hitching CRO to Trump might grab headlines, but it could also alienate politically neutral users who don’t want their token bags tied to partisan battles. In other words, CRO just became more volatile—not only in price, but in meaning.

CRO holders finally have a catalyst after years of dormancy, but it’s a double-edged sword. The pump is real, the treasury is massive, and the headlines are loud. But now, Cronos’ future is tethered to Trump’s media machine—an unpredictable beast that could just as easily elevate CRO as crash it under the weight of political chaos.