Weiss Crypto Ratings, a division of Weiss Ratings, LLC, launched a comprehensive report on emerging trends in the cryptocurrency market, assigning top letter grades to coins with the best combination of adoption and technology, indicating a high likelihood of long-term success.
“Despite lower prices since early 2018, our ratings model gives us hard evidence that a critical segment of the cryptocurrency industry has enjoyed remarkable growth in user transaction volume, network capacity, and network security. Equally important is our finding that these improvements are often powered by an evolution in the underlying technology,” says Weiss Ratings founder, Martin D. Weiss. “Therefore, for those willing to take the risk, the best time to invest could be very near.”
The Weiss Crypto Ratings are based on two separate grades — a tech/adoption grade for long-term investors and a risk/reward grade based on short-term factors. Focusing strictly on the former, Weiss finds that:
- XRP, managed by Ripple, is best positioned to compete with SWIFT, the global network for interbank money transfers. Tech/Adoption Grade: A
- EOS is currently the leading cryptocurrency challenging Ethereum to become the backbone of the new internet. Tech/Adoption Grade: A
- Bitcoin, upgraded with the roll-out of its Lightning Network, is the best positioned to become a popular store of value for savers and investors. Tech/Adoption Grade: A
- Ethereum is the most widely used smart-contract platform, but currently faces difficulties with scaling. Tech/Adoption grade: A-
- Cardano aims to provide the most advanced smart contract capabilities, monetary policy and governance. Tech/Adoption Grade: B+
Also making the top 10 list for technology and adoption are Steem, NEO, Stellar, Zcash, and BitShares.
Weiss warns, however, that investors must not ignore the risk of loss, which remains far higher in crypto markets than virtually any other asset class. Thus, the overall Weiss Crypto Ratings, which include risk and reward factors, are not nearly as high. Only four — EOS, Ripple, Bitcoin and Binance — merit an overall rating of B-, and no coins get an A.
Weiss Crypto Ratings issues adoption/technology grades — along with the overall ratings — on over 120 cryptocurrencies. All the Weiss Crypto Ratings are now accessible online in real time to consumers, investors, and businesses looking to make informed decisions and avoid the cryptocurrency hype.
The report, co-written by Martin Weiss and chief cryptocurrency analyst, Juan Villaverde, identified five ongoing trends:
- An important segment of the cryptocurrency industry is enjoying remarkable growth in the volume of user transactions, a key aspect of adoption.
- Improving adoption is largely powered by improving technology.
- The way cryptocurrencies are secured is changing quite rapidly. Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) coins are on the rise, while Proof-of-Work (PoW) coins are losing market share.
- Some cryptocurrencies are moving beyond blockchain entirely.
- Killer dApps (Decentralized Applications) will play the biggest role in determining the future winners. Examples include: Decentralized, crypto-based social media, peer-to-peer lending and fair and secure elections
Weiss Crypto Ratings are updated on a weekly basis, including in-depth details on each coin’s adoption, technology, risk, and reward. In addition, the new Weiss Crypto Ratings website provides the world’s only crypto price indexes based on ratings.
Supporting Resources
- Download Weiss Crypto Ratings Industry Outlook “Dark Shadows with a Bright Future” here
- An infographic of summarizing the Crypto Industry Outlook can be found here
- Additional assets can be downloaded from the Online Press Kit
- Follow Weiss Ratings on Twitter @weissratings
About Weiss Ratings: Weiss Ratings covers 53,000 institutions and investments and is the only financial rating agency that provides grades on cryptocurrencies. It accepts no compensation of any kind from issuers or sponsors. Its sole revenue source is from the sale of ratings and research to consumers, investors and other end users. Weiss Ratings has been praised by Members of Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and news organizations for its objective analysis of financial institutions and investments. Visit https://weisscryptocurrencyratings.com/about.
Top ten ratings
Weiss Crypto Ratings report infographic