Bitcoin Gets a C+, Ethereum B as Weiss Ratings Grades Cryptocurrencies

There were some raised eyebrows as financial ratings agency Weiss Ratings released a report grading over 70 cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Notably, well-known names like Bitcoin, Litecoin and Dash received only “C+” grades, while Ethereum and EOS received a “B” — the highest grade on Weiss’ list.

According to its website, the gradings were based on factors including price volatility, price gains in 2017 and market penetration, technological capabilities, security, decentralization, and ability to scale.

Weiss published the list to its paid subscribers on January 24th, though the results were soon leaked online. A fake list circulated alongside the real item, suspiciously granting Tron TRX an “A++” result.

None of the 74 assets listed received an “A” or even a “B+” grading. Weiss is the first mainstream financial ratings agency to rank crypto assets this way. The company, which usually grades banks, credit unions, mutual funds and insurance companies, takes a cautious approach — it claims to be completely independent and “fundamentally incomparable to nearly all other ratings available in America today”.

A full subscription to Weiss Cryptocurrency Ratings is $936 USD, though the company is offering discounts.

Weiss Gives No Coin an ‘A’ and Mostly Cs

Bitcoin’s C+ counts as a small step above “fair” on Weiss’ chart. A large majority of the assets ranked received a C, C+ and C- including big names like Ripple XRP, NXT, Peercoin, NEM, Monero, Stellar, Zcash, Zcoin and Verge. Only five received more coveted B (“good”) variants: Cardano ADA, EOS, Ethereum, NEO and Steem.

The lowest ranking was “D” for “weak”, shared by the rogues’ gallery of Expanse, Matchpool, Novacoin, PotCoin, Quark, and SaluS. Fairing little better on D+ were Auroracoin, Bitcoin Gold, Einsteinium, Megacoin, and Metaverse ETP.

A glance at reactions on social media indicated most disagreed with Weiss’ opinions of their favorite — or least favorite — coins. Though few if any comments received the ratings favorably, it’s unclear how many had seen only the fake list. Ethereum fans appeared generally pleased with ETH’s relatively high position.

Weiss itself claimed to be suffering a DDoS attack on its main site, which its founder reportedly claimed originated in Korea. Bitsonline initially had difficulty accessing the site, though it appears to be online again at press time.

The report hasn’t had a major impact on digital asset prices yet, with mostly single percentage point shifts. With a few exceptions, higher-ranked coins like ETH and ADA were up in price at press time, while BTC and DASH had dropped slightly. /bitsonline/