Cronos Unveils A Refreshed Roadmap Targeting Tokenization As #1 Growth Driver

Tokenization is the name of the game for the Cronos network, which has just published a new roadmap for 2025-2026. It has the single aim of becoming the blockchain of choice for traditional financial institutions as they warm up to all things crypto. 

The new roadmap envisions that Cronos will also become a major player in artificial intelligence, embracing so-called AI agents that can automate blockchain interactions on behalf of users to transform the way people engage with digital assets. 

Cronos is a powerful blockchain designed to provide high throughput and interoperability with the broader Ethereum and Cosmos ecosystems. It’s an EVM-compatible smart contract blockchain designed by the popular cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com. It was originally built to support real-world payments via Crypto.com’s debit card, which links to user’s accounts and allows them to spend their crypto anywhere Visa cards are accepted. 

These days, Cronos is much bigger than that, nurturing an ecosystem of decentralized financial applications, including yield farming platforms such as VVS Finance and Crypto.com’s auto-harvest feature, which automatically takes user’s staking rewards and converts them into stablecoins so they can be spent more easily. 

Tokenization The Top Priority

Given its focus on supporting DeFi, it’s easy to see why Cronos’s ambitions are now expanding to tokenization. As part of its new roadmap, it’s planning to create a purpose-built platform for tokenized assets, which can represent anything from equities, commodities and funds, to insurance, Forex and real estate. Tokenization involves converting real-world assets into digital tokens that live on the blockchain, where they can be traded more easily, without intermediaries. 

Experts believe tokenization will accelerate the growth of DeFi, because it provides a way to enhance liquidity in previously-illiquid markets, enables fractional ownership and reduces the costs of investing. According to one forecast, the sector will reach $18 trillion by the end of 2033, up from just $25 billion today. 

Cronos said it’s now focused on building the infrastructure required to support instant T+0 transfers and generate yield on tokenized stocks that can easily integrate with DeFi protocols. In addition, it aims to make all tokenized assets on Cronos accessible to trusted AI agents via the Cronos AI Agent SDK. 

AI agents have become another big focus for Cronos recently. It believes agentic AI will be a powerful catalyst for the adoption of DeFi because of its potential to increase accessibility by automating tasks such as portfolio management and digital asset trading. 

Enhancing Institutional Appeal

While Cronos sees tokenization infrastructure as a vital growth engine, it’s not the only one. The roadmap also calls for tighter integration with Crypto.com, which boasts more than 150 million users, many of whom might be enticed to explore the DeFi services on Cronos. The plan is to embed Cronos DeFi with Crypto.com’s fiat payment rails, making those platforms easier to access. It has already made baby steps in this direction. Earlier this year, it announced a key partnership with VVS Finance, expanding the Crypto.com auto-harvest feature to include yield generated by its top DeFi platform. 

Lastly, Cronos aims to increase demand for its native asset CRO, which it sees as a third major growth driver. It’s targeting $20 billion in CRO via public markets and more than $10 billion in tokenized assets by the end of 2026. This will be done by launching CRO ETFs in the U.S. and in the EU, and by partnering with crypto asset treasury firms to encourage institutions to invest in the asset. 

Cronos Labs chief Mirko Zhao stressed that most blockchains are racing to evolve from supporting niche digital asset trading rails into genuine financial infrastructure. “This roadmap is about tying tokenization, AI and DeFi into one interoperable system that institutions and retail users alike can rely on,” Zhao explained. “With our distribution through Crypto.com and a foundation of regulatory credibility, we believe Cronos is uniquely positioned to make that leap.”

The new roadmap comes just weeks after a major update to the Cronos EVM mainnet that enabled it to achieve sub-second block speeds and a ten-times reduction in transaction fees. Since that update, CRO has seen an incredible 400% increase in daily transaction volumes. The faster, more affordable Cronos EVM is intended to support more responsive DeFi applications, and will be key to helping it fulfill its ambitions to reach more than 20 million users globally by next year. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.