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Crypto.com has had immense growth over the last 10 years, from a prepaid card to spend crypto, now to a crypto exchange serving over 150 million users worldwide, with a huge range of services and features, and is now the driving force behind bringing the benefits and speed of crypto to real world technologies and businesses (e.g. finance, real estate and gaming).
Crypto.com¹ is one of the OGs of crypto. It was founded in 2016, which is very old for crypto. It quickly became very popular, and these days there’s over 150 million customers, and operates globally.
It was founded in Hong Kong by 4 experts in crypto and business, Kris Marszalek (CEO), Bobby Bao, Gary Or, and Rafael Melo. The original concept was a card to spend your crypto (it still offers this, and it’s very popular). Together they had a wide range of skills ranging from finance to software engineering, and everything in between.
It was originally called Monaco, and their focus was (and still is) to make crypto usable for everyone, with their mission to onboard the next billion users of crypto.
The idea for a card in 2016 was hugely innovative, and not done before. The card was launched in 2018. Instead of building products and services for crypto traders, it focused on bringing the benefits of crypto to the people.
As it grew it changed its name to Crypto.com¹, and purchased the domain name for millions of dollars (estimates of up to $10 million).
Crypto.com is great for beginners to advanced traders. Learn more on the Crypto.com website.
Following the name change, it became a full crypto exchange (alongside the card provider) and its popularity surged and new services were added, which are currently the Crypto.com¹ App, Exchange, Chain, a DeFi wallet and even things behind the scenes with payments and blockchain infrastructure, for instance, there’s an integration with eCommerce payments software Stripe, where you can pay with and accept crypto, and a whole blockchain driving crypto adoption in industries such as finance.
Following success and more investment it signed huge sporting partnerships to promote Crypto.com globally. These included a sports arena in Los Angeles called the Crypto.com arena (previously the Stapes Center), a Formula 1 sponsorship, UFC partnership and deals with sports teams including PSG in France (Paris Saint-Germain), and Philadelphia 76ers.
Outside of sports there’s a whole host of celebrity partnerships, including Matt Damon, who featured in a very famous TV advert in 2021.
All really cool right? It’s a testament to its size, and hard to fathom - over 150 million customers is an enormous amount of people, that’s nearly twice the size of the population of the UK. And to Crypto.com, that’s a tiny figure, their goal is over a billion users.
Recently, Crypto.com¹ has introduced another innovation to the world of crypto, and that’s their Level Up program. With this, you can pay a monthly fee or hold Crypto.com’s own token, called Cronos (CRO), and get zero trading fees and a whole host of benefits, such as increased rewards when staking, 0% foreign exchange fees on card spending, and up to 6% cashback on card spending too. There’s also real world benefits such as airport lounge access and invites to sporting events and VIP experiences.
We think it’s really great, and could even make some trading strategies viable when they otherwise might not be (due to trading fees). Here’s our in-depth review of Crypto.com’s Level Up program¹.
Crypto.com is great for beginners to advanced traders. Learn more on the Crypto.com website.
Crypto.com¹ started out from humble beginnings in Hong Kong, and over time acquired regulatory approval effectively across the globe, in North America, Canada, EU & Europe, Middle East, Australia and Asia.
This is no mean feat, and requires obtaining regulatory licenses and approval in a whole range of countries in each continent. This has cemented Crypto.com¹ as one of the most trusted crypto companies in the world, and through that expansion took Crypto.com to over 150 million users, and to where it is now.
Crypto.com’s mission is to bring crypto to everyday users, and over the years have developed a range of products suited to different types of users and use cases.
The first was the debit card, in partnership with Visa, where you can spend crypto anywhere Visa is accepted (that’s pretty much every country in the world, and every shop, online store, restaurant etc).
On top of the ability to spend your crypto in the real-world, you can earn cashback (up to 6%) on your spending too, and a whole range of other benefits which are now part of their Level Up program.
In 2016, and even now, this was revolutionary. It was impossible to really spend your crypto like a currency, you could only send it to another crypto wallet through the blockchain, which isn’t necessarily easy or simple for most people. Spending with a Visa card instantly in shops meant no need to convert or withdraw money back to your local currency to spend, it’s all handled for you as and when you spend.
Alongside the card was an app to store and hold your crypto, in a secure wallet, which could then be spent with the Visa card. This app was the launchpad for the global exchange we see now.
Following the success of the card, a fully fledged crypto exchange was launched. This immediately soared in popularity at the same time the crypto industry and crypto trading was booming (around 2019 and beyond).
The exchange, called Crypto.com¹ Exchange, is incredibly powerful, and one of our top rated exchanges for advanced traders. It has all of the features you’d expect and more, and thanks to the popularity of Crypto.com, the liquidity is large and there are market makers (firms providing liquidity), making it a reliable place to trade. There’s a wide range of coins to trade, and the user experience is great. If that didn't make sense, don't worry, it's just a great place to buy and sell crypto.
The exchange itself is now split into two services, the Crypto.com App, which is suited to those newer to crypto, and it’s a safe and reliable way to buy, sell and trade crypto easily, without all the complicated features that aren’t needed for those who aren’t advanced traders.
For advanced traders, as mentioned, the Crypto.com Exchange is designed for them and very highly rated, packed with features to help you trade. It also has advanced features such as an API, trading bots and an over-the-counter service (plus many more features). Companies are also able to trade.
As millions of people poured into crypto, new software, tools and companies were launched who offered a token, and these could be created and traded directly on the blockchain networks, without the need for a crypto exchange. This is called on-chain trading, and became very popular.
Crypto.com¹ launched Crypto.com Onchain, building on their popular crypto wallet, to expand services to swapping (trading) and staking (earning rewards on your crypto) and providing access to a range of popular apps (called dapps in crypto), such as NFT trading, all from within the wallet.
This provided access to 1,000s of tokens and a secure way to trade on-chain, with the reliability and security of Crypto.com, alongside a great user experience. There’s also a range of trading features to help those more advanced too.
Crypto.com¹ also launched their exchange to institutions, allowing firms and businesses to invest, trade and store their crypto with Crypto.com. Providing a secure option for them, who typically have very large balances. An over-the-counter (OTC) was also launched, alongside treasury services.
More than just the exchange, there’s also partnerships with banks (for payments), such as Deutsche Bank, and recently integrated with Stripe for crypto payments, where merchants (e.g. shops) can accept crypto payments.
Crypto.com has also moved into payments infrastructure and bringing finance on-chain with their own blockchain Cronos (there’s technically a few different chains). This is highly advanced and technical, so we won’t go into the details now, but the goal is to bring finance on-chain (and other industries, such as real estate and even gaming), with businesses and developers able to build their software products on the network as their underlying infrastructure. There’s even the ability to integrate AI agents. The possibilities for the future are quite literally endless. You can learn more about this on cronos.org¹.
The Cronos token (CRO) is the underlying token for the blockchain, and functions for a range of services. For individual investors, you can hold the Cronos token and benefit from reducing your trading fees to zero, higher rewards, and even things like invites to sporting events, all with the Level Up program.
Crypto.com is great for beginners to advanced traders. Learn more on the Crypto.com website.
The Level Up program from Crypto.com¹ is a great initiative, and it could save you a small fortune in fees (depending on how much you trade). It makes Crypto.com very appealing to crypto investors and traders.
The Level Up program is where, instead of paying fees per trade, like almost all other crypto trading platforms, you pay a set monthly fee, or simply lock away some Cronos tokens (CRO), effectively making it completely free.
It’s much more than that though, there’s a huge range of benefits and rewards in and outside of crypto. For instance, you can earn up to 6% cashback on card spend (on the Crypto.com card), earn rewards when locking away CRO (Crypto.com token), higher reward rates from staking, 0% foreign exchange fees (great for holidays), and even airport lounge access and invites to sporting events and VIP experiences.
Here’s the run-through of what you can expect:
Crypto.com is great for beginners to advanced traders. Learn more on the Crypto.com website.
Unfortunately, Crypto.com was hacked in 2022, which is not necessarily unusual for crypto, and a significant number of exchanges have been hacked. The response from Crypto.com should be praised however, and withdrawals were suspended briefly and the issue resolved shortly after, with estimates of up to $35 million stolen. All funds were returned to customers. There have been no reported incidents since.
There we have it, a run through the the history and development of Crypto.com¹, which is now one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, and really, it’s much more than a crypto exchange these days, it’s driving the future of crypto adoption for both users and institutions and businesses, with their development of the Cronos chains, where things like finance and gaming can be brought on-chain easily, bringing the benefits and speed of a blockchain to industries outside of crypto.
All that from beginning as a crypto debit card back in 2016. It’s not even been 10 years. Imagine what could be in the next 10?
The range of services and size of Crypto.com is formidable, with the Crypto.com App to help new users to crypto buy, sell and store their tokens, to an advanced Exchange popular with advanced traders, who can now benefit from the Level Up program, bringing trading fees to zero, and get VIP treatment, cashback and rewards. Of course the card still exists and is super popular, and businesses and institutions are able to trade and store their crypto too, and for those who prefer on-chain trading, there’s also an on-chain service too.
We think Crypto.com is a top crypto exchange, and well worth checking out. If you’re keen to learn more, here’s our Crypto.com review, or head over to Crypto.com¹ to get started.
We’d love to hear from you, and it will help others too.
Christopher Dowling combines a communications degree with over 10 years experience in the financial services industry in London – with focus on educating people on a wide range of money topics in an easy to understand way. He writes about savings, investing, pensions, mortgages, insurance, banking, loans, business finance and other money topics.
This article was written, reviewed and fact checked by the expert team at Nuts About Money. You’re in safe hands. Learn more.
We're experts in all things crypto, with several years of combined experience writing and talking about crypto, blockchain and investing. We’ve lived the ups and downs of the bull and bear markets, and know our bitcoin from our blockchains, and are keen to see how the industry grows.
More than 8 years of combined experience researching and writing about crypto
Qualified team (APFS - Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning)
A wide range of crypto exchanges and companies researched and reviewed, and a transparent review process
We follow a strict editorial code to ensure you get the best information possible
Crypto.com is great for beginners to advanced traders. Learn more on the Crypto.com website.