Cronos (CRO), the native token of the Crypto.com blockchain, surged nearly 18% to $0.095 Wednesday following news that it could be included in a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) backed by Trump Media & Technology Group.

The proposed ETF, which is awaiting approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, would track a basket of five cryptocurrencies: bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), solana (SOL), XRP (XRP) and cronos (CRO). If approved, CRO would make up 5% of the fund’s weighting—its smallest component, but still a notable addition for a token that’s rarely featured in major institutional products.

That news sent CRO soaring from about $0.08 Tuesday morning, outpacing the broader crypto market. The CoinDesk 20 Index, which tracks the top digital assets, rose just 2.8% over the same period.

While the bump is significant, CRO remains a shadow of its former self. The token peaked at $0.69 in November 2021 during the last bull market. It saw a short-lived revival in December 2024, rising to $0.21 amid a market rally that followed Donald Trump’s election to a second term. That rally, however, faded fast.

The ETF development has brought new attention to CRO, a token that powers Crypto.com’s ecosystem including its exchange and payments app. Still, the token has a long climb to reach its former highs. Traders appear to be reacting to the possibility of increased institutional exposure, but the SEC has yet to approve the fund.

Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, CoinDesk’s Tech & Protocols reporter.

In this issue:

• Vitalik Buterin’s New Proposal Seeks 16.7M Gas Cap on Ethereum to Rein In Transaction Bloat
• Jack Dorsey Unveils Bitchat: Offline, Encrypted Messaging Inspired by Bitcoin
• Volkswagen ADMT Taps Solana-Based Hivemapper Bee Maps for Driverless Data
• Eigen Labs Axes 25% of Staff to Focus on Building EigenCloud

Network News

NEW ETHEREUM PROPOSAL FROM VITALIK BUTERIN: A new Ethereum proposal, co-authored by Vitalik Buterin and Toni Wahrstaetter, aims to impose a hard cap on the maximum gas a transaction can consume in a move developers say could strengthen network stability and make the chain more viable for certain applications. The proposal, EIP-7983, suggests limiting individual transactions to 16,777,216 gas (2²⁴) — a sharp change from the current design, which technically allows a single transaction to consume the gas allocation of an entire block. As a design choice, that introduces several performance and security challenges. When a single transaction consumes nearly all the available gas, it disrupts the distribution of workloads across the network and tends to make block execution less efficient. So the proposed cap is expected to simplify engineering challenges and aligns with Ethereum’s shift toward modularity, though it may require splitting large transactions. — Shaurya Malwa Read more.

JACK DORSEY UNVEILS BITCHAT WHITEPAPER: Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter (now X) and fintech company Block (SQ), published a whitepaper for Bitchat, a decentralized messaging protocol that enables fully encrypted communication without the internet. Bitchat would operate over Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), allowing nearby devices to form a mesh network that relays messages hop-by-hop, according to the whitepaper. When a message is sent, it would travel across nearby devices acting as temporary nodes until it reaches its recipient, making it resilient in offline or censored environments. While not making explicit references to Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency or the blockchain, Dorsey describes Bitchat as a «decentralized, peer-to-peer messaging application,» evoking connections to the Bitcoin whitepaper’s intro in which it was described as a «peer-to-peer version of electronic cash.» — Jamie Crawley Read more.

SOLANA HIVEMAPPER AND VOLKSWAGEN TEAM UP: Volkswagen ADMT, the carmaker’s autonomous-vehicle testing subsidiary, tapped Hivemapper’s Bee Maps to support its self-driving operations with real-time mapping data. Street-level imagery collected by Bee Maps contributors using Hivemapper cameras will be used to help validate Volkswagen’s self-driving technology in an effort to boost the curbside precision of autonomous pick-ups and drop-offs, a Bee Maps spokesperson told CoinDesk. The deal highlights the growing adoption of crowdsourced geospatial data as autonomous ride-sharing firms look for more precise, up-to-date mapping infrastructure. It also showcases the growth of decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), which use blockchain incentives to crowdsource real-world data collection. Hivemapper is one of the best-known DePIN projects in the Solana ecosystem. According to the Wall Street Journal, Volkswagen’s autonomous driving unit has been testing its ‘Robotaxi’ fleet in recent months. In April, the company also announced a partnership with Uber to launch the service in U.S. markets, with pilot operations set for late 2025 and a wider rollout planned for 2026. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.

EIGENLABS LAYS OFF STAFF AMID RESTRUCTURE: Eigen Labs, the main developer firm behind restaking protocol EigenLayer, cut its workforce by 25%, losing 29 roles, as CEO Sreeram Kannan said he restructured the company to focus on developing EigenCloud, which he called a “verifiable” alternative to existing, opaque cloud services. The Seattle-based startup said the dismissals were not a cash-crunch response. The news comes as the firm has dealt with its fair share of blowback, from not having certain key mechanisms in place at the launch of its main product, to having leading Ethereum Foundation figures receive big payouts for advisory roles. EigenLayer was once one of the buzziest projects in crypto, reaching $20 billion in total value locked in June 2024. It now has $12 billion. — Francisco Rodrigues Read more.

In Other News

• Bit Digital (BTBT) is now the owner of more than 100,000 ether (ETH) after swapping out its bitcoin stack along with a $172 million capital raise for even more of the world’s second-largest crypto. From a holding of 24,434 ETH as of the end of March, Bit Digital now has some 100,603 ETH ($189.2 million) making it one of the largest corporate ETH holders, the company said. Bit Digital revealed its plans to focus solely on ETH staking last month in a move that wasn’t entirely unexpected given the more challenging environment bitcoin miners have experienced since last year’s halving. — Jamie Crawley Read more.
• U.S. President Donald Trump’s Media & Technology Group (NASDAQ: DJT) filed to list a crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would track a selection of digital assets, the latest in a string of such efforts tied to the Trump brand. The proposed «Truth Social Crypto Blue Chip ETF» would hold a portfolio of five tokens: bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), solana (SOL), XRP (XRP) and cronos (CRO), according to a filing with the SEC. Eighty-five percent of the fund’s holdings would be split between bitcoin and ether. Solana would make up 8%, cronos 5% and XRP 2%. — Helene Braun Read more.

Regulatory and Policy

• The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control’s (OFAC) sanctions against privacy tool Tornado Cash cannot be discussed at the upcoming trial of developer Roman Storm, a federal judge ruled. At a status conference in Manhattan on Tuesday, District Judge Katherine Polk Failla initially waffled on whether she would allow expert witnesses to testify about the sanctions, which were first imposed in August 2022, removed this March and subsequently found illegal by a Texas court. After hearing arguments from both prosecution and defense, Failla decided to grant Storm’s motion in limine moving to prohibit testimony about the sanctions entirely, arguing that it would simply be too confusing for a jury to do what she described as the “mental gymnastics” of understanding why the sanctions were imposed and ultimately removed. — Cheyenne Ligon Read more.
• The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) charged two individuals for their role in OmegaPro, a crypto and investment Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of over $650 million. Michael Shannon Sims, a founder and promoter of OmegaPro, and Juan Carlos Reynoso, who led OmegaPro’s operations in Latin America and some parts of the U.S., were charged on conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, according to documents published. OmegaPro was an international investment scheme that collapsed in 2022. In 2024, Andreas Szakacs, the co-founder of the scheme, was arrested in Turkey for his involvement with OmegaPro. — Parikshit Mishra Read more.

Calendar

• July 16-18: Web3 Summit, Berlin
• Sept. 22-28: Korea Blockchain Week, Seoul
• Oct. 1-2: Token2049, Singapore
• Nov. 17-22: Devconnect, Buenos Aires
• Dec. 11-13: Solana Breakpoint, Abu Dhabi
• Feb. 10-12, 2026: Consensus, Hong Kong
• May 5-7, 2026: Consensus, Miami

BNB Chain’s native token, BNB, is pushing higher as technical upgrades and fresh use cases draw investors into the network. The token climbed about 0.6% over the last 24 hours, riding a wave of heavy trading volumes and optimism tied to plans for tokenized stock offerings.

Late last month, BNB Chain launched its so-called Maxwell hard fork, slicing block times from roughly 1.5 seconds to 0.75 seconds. That means transactions clear twice as fast, a move that could help the chain handle surges in activity.

BNB Chain, which has around $6 billion in total value locked according to DeFiLlama data, is positioning itself as a faster alternative for decentralized apps handling high throughput.

Earlier, Kraken and Backed Finance announced they are bringing their tokenized equities to the BNB Chain, allowing users to trade stocks like that of Apple or Tesla around the clock.

The products, structured as BEP-20 tokens, will be available outside the United States in 185 markets.

The CoinDesk 20 index has witnessed a 2.7% increase in the past 24 hours, as the cryptocurrency market appears to have weathered the impact of the recently announced tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump, which are scheduled to take effect on August 1.

Despite the bullish backdrop, BNB hit resistance near $664.20 during early trading today, according to CoinDesk Research’s technical analysis model.

While some traders eye potential signs of accumulation, meaning larger investors could be quietly building positions, a late-session pullback to around $661.75 hints some traders may be locking in profits.

BNB’s next test will be whether it can push beyond the $665-$667 zone. That could determine if recent technical gains translate into sustained momentum, or if sellers step in again to keep prices in check.