NFTs and gaming on Cronos are the collectibles, marketplaces, and on-chain games built on the Cronos EVM chain. You mint or trade NFTs on marketplaces like Minted and Ebisu's Bay, play GameFi titles that keep some items on-chain, and pay for all of it in CRO from one wallet you control.
All of this runs on Cronos EVM, the same Ethereum-compatible chain that hosts the Cronos DeFi ecosystem. So the wallet and small CRO balance you use for a swap also cover a mint or an in-game action. NFTs and games sit just outside DeFi, but they share the same plumbing: one account you hold yourself, and a little CRO to pay the gas.
The honest catch is that this corner of Cronos turns over fast, so treat any project named here as an example to check live, not a fixture that will always be around.
Where NFTs and gaming live on Cronos: the EVM chain
NFTs and games on Cronos live on Cronos EVM, the busy Ethereum-compatible chain where CRO pays the gas. The older Cronos zkEVM is winding down toward a June 2027 shutdown, so it is not where new collections or games are heading, and you should not start anything there today.
A marketplace or a game here is an app whose logic runs on the blockchain, not on a company's private server. You use it from your own wallet, the way you would any Cronos app. Because Cronos EVM speaks Ethereum's language, the collectibles and game items are ordinary on-chain tokens. Every action you take costs a small amount of CRO for gas (source: Cronos EVM Docs). Keep a little CRO on hand and one wallet reaches all of it.
The third Cronos chain is where guides still slip. The Cronos zkEVM launched as an Ethereum layer-2, but Cronos Labs is retiring it and moving work onto Cronos EVM. Bridge deposits are already switched off, and the network shuts down for good on June 3, 2027 (source: Cronos Labs). For anyone browsing NFTs or games, the rule is simple: stay on Cronos EVM.
| Piece | What it is | Where it runs |
|---|---|---|
| NFT marketplace | Mint, buy, and sell collectibles from your wallet | Cronos EVM (CRO gas) |
| GameFi title | An on-chain game with tradable items or tokens | Cronos EVM (CRO gas) |
| Cronos Play | The developer toolkit games are built with | Cronos EVM |
| Cronos zkEVM | An older layer-2, now winding down | Shutting down June 2027, avoid for new projects |
With the venue settled, the first place most people meet this corner of Cronos is an NFT marketplace.
NFT marketplaces on Cronos
NFT marketplaces on Cronos are apps where you mint, buy, and sell collectibles straight from your wallet. Minted and Ebisu's Bay are two current marketplace examples. Each lists collections, shows what is for sale, and settles trades on-chain in CRO, with no company holding your items in between.
The idea of a non-fungible token is generic, so this page does not re-teach it. If the concept is new, the primer on how NFTs work covers it. The explainer on compressed NFTs covers a cheaper variant some chains use. Here the only Cronos-specific point is that these marketplaces run on Cronos EVM and price everything in CRO.
Minted describes itself as an NFT marketplace for Cronos and Ethereum, where you can discover, trade, and stake collections (source: Minted). Cronos documentation describes Ebisu's Bay as a self-custodial NFT platform on Cronos and Ethereum (source: Cronos EVM Docs). Both names point to a category, not a recommendation. A bigger marketplace is not automatically a safer one. This corner also churns. A collection can launch with hype and go quiet within a single cycle, so confirm a project is still active before you send anything. Some of these apps blur into games, which is where GameFi comes in.
GameFi and on-chain games on Cronos
GameFi on Cronos means games that keep some of their items, currency, or progress on-chain, so you own those pieces in your wallet instead of on a company's server. Specific titles come and go as the ecosystem shifts, but the shared model keeps game assets in a wallet rather than only on a studio server.
The word GameFi joins "game" and "finance." The generic play-to-earn idea has its own explainer, so the primer on play-to-earn games covers the model. On Cronos, the specifics are what matter. A game connects to your wallet and reads the NFTs and tokens you hold. It then lets you earn, spend, or trade on-chain items, with CRO paying the gas for each move.
An on-chain game can turn a collectible into a game piece. Your wallet proves which tokens you hold, and the app may let you use them in a match, map, or other game loop. Treat that as an illustration of the format, not a tip. Rewards move constantly, none are promised, and a game can shut down and take its in-game economy with it. None of these games would exist without the tooling that lets a developer connect a game to the chain.
Cronos Play: the toolkit behind Cronos games
Cronos Play is the set of developer tools that studios use to connect a game to Cronos. It offers plugins for the Unity, Unreal, and C++ game engines, built on ChainSafe's web3.unity kit. With it, a game can read a player's wallet, check the NFTs they hold, and send on-chain actions from inside the game (source: Cronos Play).
As a player you never touch Cronos Play directly. You only see the result, which is why it matters. When a studio uses this toolkit, a sword you win or a plot of land you buy can be minted as a real token in your wallet. It is not a locked entry on the studio's database. That is the practical difference between a Web3 game and a normal one. You can carry that sword out of the game and list it on an NFT marketplace, because it is yours on-chain.
The toolkit is one reason Cronos markets itself to game developers. It also explains why the games you find tend to share the same wallet-connect flow. For a beginner, the takeaway is smaller than the developer pitch. If a Cronos game asks to connect your wallet, that connection is how it reads and moves your on-chain items. Treat it with the same care as any other app. All of this, the marketplaces, the games, and the tooling, runs on one fuel.
How CRO and NFTs work together on Cronos
CRO and NFTs work together because CRO pays the gas for every NFT action, and the NFTs themselves are tokens that sit in the same wallet. Minting, buying, selling, or moving a Cronos NFT costs a little CRO, and the collectible is a CRC-721 or CRC-1155 token your wallet holds directly.
Those token types are the Cronos versions of Ethereum's NFT standards, so a Cronos NFT behaves much like one on Ethereum. The deeper mechanics live in the guide to token standards behind NFTs. The point on Cronos is that one wallet holds your CRO, your DeFi tokens, and your NFTs together. CRO is the gas that makes any of them move.
Follow a single collectible through and the flow is short. You keep a small CRO buffer for gas. You mint or buy an NFT, and it appears in the same wallet you already use. Later you can sell or move it, paying gas in CRO again. Because everything lives in one account you control, keeping that wallet safe is the whole game. The generic side of that belongs in the guide to keeping NFTs safe in a wallet. That shared wallet is convenient, but it also means one careless click can cost you, so a few checks matter.
How to check a Cronos NFT or game before you buy or play
Before you buy an NFT or connect to a Cronos game, confirm you are on the official site, verify the contract in the project's own docs, and start with a small amount. A polished page or a familiar name is not proof of safety, and most losses start with a fake site, not a broken chain.
From BloFin's operational view, most people meet CRO as a token they trade on a centralized venue long before they ever mint an NFT or open a Cronos game. On a centralized platform the venue handles custody and settlement for you, while a Cronos marketplace or game hands both back to your own wallet, which is exactly why the checks below carry more weight here.
- Open the marketplace or game from a link in its own docs or a bookmark you saved, never from a sponsored search result or a direct message.
- Verify the collection or game contract against the project's official site before you mint or approve anything.
- Check that the project is still active. A dead website, a silent community, or no trading for months is a warning sign, not a bargain.
- Never share your recovery phrase. No real mint, marketplace, or game ever needs it, and anyone who asks is trying to rob you.
- Start small. Buy one cheap item or play a little first, and watch how the app behaves before you spend more.
That discipline is the practical half of this tour. The map shows what exists on Cronos; the checks show what to trust.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a Crypto.com account to buy Cronos NFTs?
No. Crypto.com is a separate company that helped create Cronos, but the NFT marketplaces and games on Cronos are run by independent teams, and you do not need a Crypto.com account to use them. Anyone with a compatible EVM wallet, switched to Cronos EVM and funded with a little CRO for gas, can mint, buy, or trade a Cronos NFT directly. Check the marketplace and its contracts rather than assuming any single link makes it safer.
What happens to my Cronos NFTs if a game or marketplace shuts down?
The token stays in your wallet on-chain even if the app disappears, because you hold it directly, not the company. What you can lose is the use and value around it: a game that closes may strip an item's purpose, and artwork stored off the chain can go offline if the team stops paying for hosting. Before buying, check where the image and data actually live, and treat any in-game utility as something that can end without notice.
Can I move a Cronos NFT to Ethereum or another chain?
Not on its own. An NFT lives on the chain where it was minted, so a Cronos NFT stays on Cronos unless the project itself supports another chain or an NFT bridge moves a wrapped copy across. Bridges for NFTs are less common than token bridges and add their own risk, so many collections simply exist on one chain. Your wallet address may look identical on Ethereum and Cronos, but the items and balances on each network are separate.
If an NFT project moved to the Cronos zkEVM, what should I check before the 2027 shutdown?
Confirm which chain your assets are actually on, because the Cronos zkEVM is winding down and is set to shut down on June 3, 2027. Bridge deposits are already off, so if a collection or game you use sits on the zkEVM, plan to withdraw or move your assets out well before the deadline. Read the project's own exit notice, close anything it tells you to close, and do not assume a wallet switch moves your items for you.
How do royalties work on Cronos NFT marketplaces?
A royalty is a cut of each resale that goes back to the collection's creator, usually a small percentage set when the collection launches. On Cronos, the marketplace enforces royalties rather than the chain itself, so the rate can differ between marketplaces and some may make paying them optional. If you plan to create or trade NFTs, check the royalty terms on each marketplace first, since they change what a creator earns and what a seller actually nets on a sale.
Is buying a Cronos NFT an investment?
Treat it as a collectible or a way to use an app, not an investment. NFT prices are volatile and often illiquid, meaning you may not find a buyer when you want one, and a floor price you see today can change fast. This guide does not publish prices for that reason. Only spend what you can afford to lose, and buy something because you want it or will use it, not because you expect it to rise in value.
Researched and written by the BloFin Academy editorial team with AI-assisted drafting. Updated July 2026. Primary sources: the Cronos EVM docs, the Cronos Play developer tools, Cronos Labs, and the Minted and Ebisu's Bay marketplaces. Named projects are illustrative examples verified live at the time of writing, not endorsements or rankings.
This article is educational and general in nature, not financial or investment advice. NFTs and on-chain games carry real risks, including smart-contract bugs and exploits, scams and fake sites, illiquid and volatile prices, projects that shut down, and the chance of losing funds sent on the wrong network or left on a retiring chain. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell, hold, or use any asset, collectible, or app, and no project is ranked or endorsed. Do your own research, and consider a licensed professional before making financial decisions. BloFin does not provide investment advice.