Weiss Rolls Out First Ever Cryptocurrency Ratings

For those not already familiar with Weiss Ratings, it’s an organization that offers users ratings of banks and credit unions, along with other financial instruments based on a scale that includes points like stability, profitability, and others to create a single report-card-style A to F rating. Now, Weiss has stepped into the cryptocurrency markets, and rated some of the biggest names around.

Weiss’ crypto rankings focused on several different factors, ranging from price risk, reward potential, overall security and others to create the general assessment. Bitcoin, easily the grandfather of them all, only managed a C+ on the Weiss ratings; while security and adoption rated very high, the now-familiar remonstrances of high fees and sluggish transactions socked the five-figure cryptocurrency’s ratings.

Only three cryptocurrencies worked in the B range; Ethereum and EOS landed B grades, while Cardano took home a B-. Ethereum got a boost from its second-widest adoption status, but its similar sluggishness in the network socked its ratings as well.

Interestingly, the ratings have met with some resistance already; Korean social media has been abuzz with reports of attempts of sabotage on the Weiss Ratings network, and it was also the home point of a denial of service attack staged on the company that saw 100,000 new visits in a few hours.

Even the cryptocurrencies themselves are less than pleased; Ethereum’s Charles Hoskinson—founder and former CEO—called out Weiss’ approach, noting “Any rating that doesn’t give Bitcoin an A has got some screws loose. Nearly ten years of wealth creation, innovation, massive growth, proven resiliency against crashes and billions worth of infrastructure. And all without a leader. Bitcoin is the standard.”

It must be noted, however, that any review system is inherently tainted by bias on at least some level; one person’s A is another person’s F. Even when objective scales are used, as is the case with Weiss Ratings, there’s still bias in determining what points are used as part of the scaling. Just look at Hoskinson’s remarks.

Still, it’s good to have at least something of an objective ratings system for cryptocurrencies. While there will always be disagreements, having a place to start considering cryptocurrency in the field of hundreds already available—about 1,400 at last report—will be helpful for anyone getting started.