Bitcoin Receives Average C+ Grade (Fair). Ethereum Does Better with B Rating (Good).
Weiss Ratings has released their first-ever grades on cryptocurrencies by a financial rating agency, The ratings took place despite a reported massive Korean cyberattack on its website. (While not clarified, we assume Weiss was referencing the North Koreans). Weiss said staff was up all night fending off DDoS attacks from Korea in a concerted effort to bring down the Weiss Ratings website.
“Earlier commentary on social media expressed considerable fear we were about to release negative ratings on their preferred currencies,” said Weiss Ratings founder Martin D. Weiss, Ph.D. “So this may be an attempt to thwart our release today.”
The first round of ratings were fairly benign. Weiss delivered a rating to Bitcoin of a C+ (meaning “fair”) and Ethereum received a B (“good”).
Weiss added that it experienced a surge in friendly visitors to the site.
“Since our customers are almost entirely in the U.S., we rarely get more than small amounts of traffic from Asia. But last night, we had more than 100,000 unique visitors in a matter of hours, almost entirely from Asia, until early this morning, when more of the traffic rolled over to Europe. To handle the volume, our staff instantly expanded its server capacity on the cloud many times over,” Weiss shared.
Weiss added;
“Despite extreme price volatility, cryptocurrencies have a bright future and the potential to deliver unusually large profits to investors. However, the market is hectic and confusing for investors. They need the clarity that only robust, impartial ratings can provide.”
The Weiss Cryptocurrency Ratings currently evaluate price risk, reward potential, Blockchain technology, adoption, security, and other factors.
“Due to rapid changes in the data,” explains Weiss, “upgrades and downgrades are more frequent than in other sectors we cover. All else being equal, as a cryptocurrency overcomes its individual challenges, it’s likely to be upgraded promptly”
Weiss shared a sampling of their Cryptocurrency Ratings:
- Bitcoin (rated C+) gets excellent scores for security and widespread adoption. But it is encountering major network bottlenecks, causing delays and high transactions costs. Despite intense ongoing efforts that are achieving some initial success, Bitcoin has no immediate mechanism for promptly upgrading its software code.
- Ethereum (B), the second most widely adopted cryptocurrency, benefits from more readily upgradable technology and better speed, despite some bottlenecks.
- Novacoin (D) and SaluS (D) are weak in terms of both technological innovation and adoption.
Steem (B-) enjoys a relatively good balance of moderate strength in nearly all the key factors considered along with a social network feature.
Weiss Ratings began in 1971 and currently rates 55,000 institutions and investments. Unlike Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, Fitch and A.M. Best, Weiss never accepts compensation of any kind from the entities it rates. To receive crypto ratings you first need to register and then pay for access.