Deep Dive
1. Smart Accounts & EVM Upgrade (30 October 2025)
Overview: This mainnet upgrade, dubbed "Smarturn" (Cronos EVM v1.5), brings smart account capabilities to regular wallets and updates the virtual machine. For users, this means complex DeFi actions can be bundled into a single, faster transaction.
The core feature is support for Ethereum's EIP-7702, which allows Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) to temporarily operate as smart contracts. This enables gasless transactions, batch approvals, and programmable wallet logic. The upgrade also updates the EVM to go-ethereum v1.15.11, incorporating opcodes from Ethereum's Cancun and Prague forks, which gives developers access to newer tools and Solidity versions.
What this means: This is bullish for $CRO because it significantly improves the user experience, making interactions with dApps faster, cheaper, and simpler. It positions Cronos at the forefront of wallet innovation, which could attract more developers and users to its ecosystem.
(Cronos)
2. Sub-Second Block Time Achievement (3 July 2025)
Overview: This performance upgrade slashed the average block time on the Cronos EVM from 5.6 seconds to under one second. The result is much faster transaction finality, making the network feel more responsive for payments and trading.
The speed leap was achieved by optimizing block production frequency and leveraging BlockSTM, a parallel execution engine introduced in a prior upgrade. This allows multiple transactions within a block to be processed simultaneously, increasing overall network throughput.
What this means: This is bullish for $CRO because it elevates Cronos into the top tier of fastest blockchains, crucial for supporting high-frequency DeFi, AI, and real-time payment applications. A smoother, faster experience can drive greater adoption and on-chain activity.
(CoinMarketCap)
Overview: This upgrade to the Cronos POS chain focused on foundational improvements for validators and node operators. It enhances security with a new circuit breaker feature and boosts performance through a core software update.
Key changes include upgrading to Cosmos SDK v0.50.10 for better engine performance and IBC-go v8.5.1 for improved cross-chain communication. It also implemented RocksDB enhancements to reduce memory usage and speed up node synchronization.
What this means: This is neutral to bullish for $CRO because it strengthens the network's underlying infrastructure, making it more reliable and secure for all participants. While not a user-facing feature, robust infrastructure is essential for long-term ecosystem health and institutional adoption.
(Cronos)
Conclusion
Cronos's recent codebase trajectory shows a clear focus on enhancing core performance, user experience, and network security. These upgrades collectively aim to make the chain more competitive for real-time applications and scalable adoption. With foundational speed and usability now addressed, how will developer activity and new use cases respond on-chain?