ZachXBT calls Cryptocom’s CRO token a scam after Trump partnership announcement

On-chain investigator ZachXBT accused Crypto.com of fraud on Monday after the company announced a new partnership with Trump Media to launch crypto-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the Truth.Fi brand.

In a post replying directly to Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek, Zach wrote, “CRO is no different from a scam. Your team just reissued 70B CRO a week ago that was previously burned ‘forever’ in 2021 (70% total supply) and went against the community wishes as you control majority of the supply.”

Zach questioned why the Trump family would choose to work with Crypto.com over other U.S.-based exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, or Gemini, and said, “I’ve never seen anything like it (from a major company).”

According to Unchained’s report by Laura Shin, the company behind the Cronos blockchain, Cronos Labs, proposed on March 2, to mint 70 billion CRO tokens for a new “Strategic Reserve.” These tokens had been burned in 2021 as part of a supply cut that reduced the total supply from 100 billion to 30 billion CRO.

Crypto.com seeks ETF deal while ignoring CRO community backlash

Zach later followed up on his accusation by saying, “I would hope they [the Trump family] were just not aware.” His comments came after Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) said in its Monday press release that its new line of ETFs will be branded as “Made in America” and could go live later this year.

The launch depends on regulatory approval. The announcement comes during Donald Trump’s second term as U.S. president. The ETFs will be rolled out internationally and will include a combination of crypto like Bitcoin and CRO, plus traditional securities across industries such as energy. The backend, custody, and token supply will be handled by Crypto.com and its U.S. partner, Foris Capital.

In the same release, Kris called the partnership an opportunity to tap into a brand “with a loyal following.” The ETFs will be distributed through major brokerage platforms in Europe and Asia and inside the Crypto.com app, which the company claims has 140 million users globally.

Trump Media, the parent of Truth Social, is valued at $4.6 billion but reported only $3.6 million in revenue and a $400 million loss for 2024. Despite this, the stock gained 9% after hours on Monday following the announcement.

Prior to that, the stock had dropped 38% in 2025, even after Trump returned to the White House. This ETF venture adds another crypto move to the Trump brand, which already pushed NFTs, memecoins, and previously teased a crypto bank.

CRO re-mint vote faces community outrage but Crypto.com controls outcome

Backlash over the CRO re-mint spread across the token’s user base after the March 2 proposal. One large token holder told Unchained, “My first thoughts: massive dilution. Selfishness from the company as nobody from the community would benefit from it.”

The circulating supply of CRO currently stands at 27 billion, and reintroducing 70 billion more would flood the market. Several holders argued this move breaks one of crypto’s most basic principles: a token burn is supposed to be permanent. Now that Crypto.com is reversing that burn, trust in its promises has dropped fast.

Wyll Bildeberg, a long-time CRO supporter, wrote on X:

“A burn is a burn, burnt tokens shouldn’t be brought back to life. I’m almost never against anything happening on Cronos, but today, I’m against it, big time! If this pass, it will just be a confirmation that Cronos is heavily centralized, and so can’t be trusted.”

The vote on whether to allow the minting of these tokens was open until March 16 and the outcome depended almost entirely on Crypto.com itself. According to Unchained, two wallets named Falcon Heavy and Starship, allegedly operated by Crypto.com, used their massive CRO holdings to push the vote toward approval with 50.92% in favor versus 48.56% against. Only 23.5% of eligible voters had participated as of that date, and quorum requires 33.4%. Crypto.com reportedly controls 80% of the voting power, meaning they can force the proposal through without community support.

Despite that, most retail holders are against the re-mint. Many bought in after the 2021 burn, believing the max supply would stay at 30 billion CRO. For them, this move isn’t just about inflation. It’s about trust. They see the action as a betrayal, especially now that CRO is down 41% in the past year and has dropped 91% since its all-time high in November 2021.

Still, Marszalek and his team seem focused on pushing ahead. The ETF move lets them sell CRO to a new wave of institutional investors, even if it destroys the trust of existing ones. The decision to revive the full 100 billion CRO supply—after telling the community it was gone forever—puts Crypto.com at odds with its user base. The proposal claims the funds will help drive CRO adoption and build the first ETF backed by a token issuer, but critics say it’s just a power grab.

“The Cronos ecosystem is very different from what I see on other chains,” one token holder allegedly told Unchained. “We barely see any scams and rugs on it, and there is a real meaning in helping each other. There is a strong potential for it to become a major player in the industry. We are lucky to not have projects just launched to suck liquidities out like the memecoin mania on Solana. We have our own ecosystem, and it’s built by people who are really passionate.”

Trump’s crypto push boosts exchanges but opens trust issues

Meanwhile, other crypto firms are watching the shift closely. Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, told CNBC two days ago that the Trump administration has been a “fantastic reset” for crypto.

Teng was appointed in November 2023, after Binance was hit with a $4.3 billion fine and forced to replace founder Changpeng Zhao. Since then, Binance has made a comeback in U.S. politics.

“It’s an extremely different environment that we’re operating in,” Teng said. “We’ve benefited from this shift.” He explained that Trump’s second term marks the end of what the industry called Operation Choke Point 2.0, a reference to how banks allegedly targeted crypto during the Biden years. Teng added that even though Binance.com doesn’t operate in the U.S., it’s still enjoying the wave of pro-crypto policies now coming from Washington.

“At any point in time, we have more than 40% of global market share,” Teng said, pushing back on talk that Coinbase is gaining ground politically. He dismissed worries about crypto ETFs becoming too dominant and said, “A lot of users that start trading through ETFs subsequently advance to cryptocurrency platforms.”

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