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MCO Coin Review
It’s difficult to even talk about MCO without mentioning Crypto.com and CRO coin. MCO, CRO and Crypto.com represent coins, an exchange, cryptocurrency credit cards and wider cryptocurrency acceptance around the world.
Aug. 2, 2020 update: Crypto.com recently announced they will be dropping support for MCO and merging all of its functionality into the CRO coin. Users will be able to swap their MCO for CRO and recieve a bonus of 20% until Sept. 2, 2020. Crypto.com will end support for MCO completely on Nov. 2, 2020.
General Overview
Pros
A suite of crypto-based debit cards
Various rewards for people who hold certain amounts of MCO
One of the best ways to utilize cryptocurrency for payments
Provably secure proof of stake algorithm
Cons
MCO has a relationship with Visa if you dislike traditional finance companies
Some regulatory concerns in different parts of the world
MCO Ratings
Price
- High: $27.10 USD (Aug 29, 2017)
- Low: $0.64 USD (Jul 16, 2017)
Market Cap
- $73,000,000+
Supply
- Circulating Supply: 15,793,831
- Total Supply: 31,587,682
Network Speed
- Rating: Medium
- Transactions Per Second: 30 tx/s
Disbursement
- Rating: Medium
- Reason: Half of the supply of MCO is already in circulation, just two years after the initial launch of the ICO. The other half is locked by a smart contract, with no details as to when the tokens will be released into circulation. This uncertainty, coupled with the fact the the first half is held by a small amount of individuals give this coin a medium rating of disbursement.
Developer Engagement
- Rating: Medium
- Reason: Since there is no Github repository available to the public, it is difficult to determine the level of developer engagement for this project. That being said, Crypto.com has a mobile app update several times a month, with new features, and services being added every quarter. Crypto.com headquarters is reported to have more than 170 employees, which allows us to give MCO a developer rating of medium.
Liquidity
- Rating: Medium
- Reason: Crypto.com has employed an set of interesting mechanisms to incentivize MCO holders to keep, and even lock their tokens for extended periods of time. MCO is not traded significantly on very many exchanges, with Asia based exchanges in charge of the majority of the trading. The volume is consistently above 20 million, giving this projects a medium rating.
Introduction to MCO
The company behind the MCO token is called Monaco, they have existed since 2016, and launched an ICO for their core token MCO in 2017. Their main objective is to aid in the adoption of cryptocurrency into the world of everyday payments and finance. Being only 3 years old, it is easy to see that they are making strides in accomplishing just that.
Monaco launched their ICO on the premise of providing a crypto visa debit card, one that will allow you to spend cryptocurrency from your Monaco wallet. Since the time of their ICO, they’ve expanded their value offering to include a suite, and hierarchy of different cards, each with an increasing set of perks and offerings.
Perhaps one of the most important factors driving their success is their acquisition of the domain crypto.com. Domain real-estate cannot be underestimated, especially in the world of digital economies, and internet based businesses.
Every couple of months, Monaco releases a new feature, update, or service that compliments their ecosystem. This keeps already engaged users on the platform and encourages new users to sign up and enjoy the many perks that Monaco has to offer. Crypto.com now has integrated with their own exchange, complete with a new token that compliments their ecosystem, the CRO token.
Crypto Debit Card
Monaco launched their ICO with not much more than simply promising to bring a single crypto debit card to the industry. The aim is to solve a difficult problem in the cryptocurrency space, how do I spend my crypto? Furthermore, why would I want to spend my crypto? Most people in the cryptocurrency space value their cryptocurrency, and do not want to part with it. That is why Monaco has designed their value offering the way they did. Monaco offers no fees on purchases (up to an amount) as well as cashback paid in crypto on every purchase.
Monaco offers a hierarchy of crypto debit cards, allowing you to choose your level of engagement with the company. The company offers a free card for anyone and everyone (in valid countries) to enjoy. Then, in order to obtain a card higher up on the hierarchy, that contains more perks, you will need to purchase, hold (stake), higher and higher amounts of the core token MCO.
If we take their mid-tier card for example, you will enjoy a access to an airport lounge, 100% rebate on your Spotify and Netflix membership, 3% cashback on all of your purchases, and no fee withdrawals from ATMs all over the world up to $800 USD, with a 2% fee afterwards. While the limit is low, the perks are plentiful; this is just the sort of program to ease the world into crypto adoption.
A full list of the perks and cards can be found here.
Crypto.com Mobile Wallet
Most of your interaction with Crypto.com must be done through their mobile app. This is not so much a downfall though, as the application is built by experts. The user interface is slick, the experience is smooth, and the application offers enough layers of security to keep your mind at ease. Through the mobile app, you gain access to a range of different services. You may lend your cryptocurrency out at an interest rate, invest in a crypto index fund, secure a line of credit by providing collateral, or simply just track crypto prices. All through the Crypto.com wallet.
The crypto.com mobile wallet is a custodial wallet, meaning if the service goes down, then your assets are lost. While Crypto.com has maintained a high degree of credibility and trust, nothing is truly safe in the world of cryptocurrency unless you’re holding your private key.
Crypto Lending
Crypto.com’s lending service is called crypto earn. It is a service that is built into the mobile wallet, that allows you to lock your cryptocurrency for a period of time in order to earn interest on your assets. This may be appealing to cryptocurrency holders that plan on holding their assets for a long time. The mentality being, if I am holding my assets long term, I may as well be earning interest on them. By default, the rates lay between 6 – 12% on most assets. An additional 2% APR can be gained by buying, and staking, at least 500 MCO tokens. This creates even more incentive for crypto.com users to hold the core token, this in turn creates more stability for the MCO token.
Crypto Line of Credit
On the other side of the lending coin, you may also collateralize a loan, by locking up certain assets. Let’s take Bitcoin for example. By locking $10k worth of Bitcoin on Crypto.com, you are able to receive $5000 worth of stablecoin. You may then do what you please with that stablecoin. You must remember that you owe 8% of the loan value ($5000) on an annual basis. Failure to pay this loan means that crypto.com may sell your collateral in order to pay the interest on your loan.
Automated Crypto Investment
Crypto trading can be hard, time consuming, and just plain old confusing. That’s why a service like Crypto Invest exists. Crypto invest is an automated crypto investment service, that automatically diversifies your investment into multiple coins. Furthermore, you are investing with a handful of other individuals in the same portfolio. Crypto.com takes a small cut of your profits, not your losses, so you only pay them when you win. They offer three streams of portfolios to match your risk tolerance. So if you’re a risky trader, then you can choose their growth stream, if you’re looking for more stability, then perhaps the balanced portfolio would be right for you.
MCO Frequently Asked Questions
At the time of this article being written, crypto.com does not ship their cards to Canada. That being said, the higher tier cards require you to buy and lock MCO for 6 months. The website currently reports that crypto.com is working on delivering their card to Canada. By the time your 6 months is up, it is possible the card will be ready to be shipped to Canada.
Currently, the MCO card is available in Singapore, Australia, United States, and the United Kingdom.
In order to take advantage of the Netflix and Spotify rebate, you must own the Jade Green/Royal Blue MCO card. This is the middle tier which requires you to buy and lock 500 MCO for 6 months. Then you must connect your card to Netflix and Spotify, then you will get the rebate paid in MCO.
One of the most interesting aspects of the MCO project is there are perks to holding amounts of MCO. It’s generally bad for coin holders when the price of their coin goes down but there are actually benefits for MCO users. If MCO gets cheaper they can conceivably purchase more MCO, stake that the new MCO and gain access to a higher level of perks like free airport lounge access or better earn rates.
One isn’t really better than the other. They are just different. CRO is Crypto.com’s native payment token. MCO is more widely traded and used in conjunction with the Crypto.com credit cards.
Working with Visa and various financial institutions around the world represents a massive hurdle for Crypto.com and cryptocurrency in general. It’s definitely taken some time. Fortunately, regardless of how you feel about Crypto.com the fact that more crypto companies are gaining legitimate credit cards is a positive sign for the industry.
That’s a question you’re going to have to ask yourself. It is a rather unique value proposition in the credit card world with perks like free Spotify or Netflix. Of course you have to stake coins to actually get those perks.
The card also offers significant cashback, but it’s only really useful if you’re comfortable with getting paid in cryptocurrency.
