Not “new” but definitely not an early-adopter in the crypto-currency scene, I have built my knowledge for the past year by navigating through web articles, videos and podcasts to make my own opinion on the qualities that a coin/token should have. I also considered the risk I am keen to take as it's a very changing space that grown exponentially and in so many directions.

Because I like to formalize my takeaways, I summarized the key characteristics I value for a block chain as following:

In addition, a crypto-currency should serve a function that benefits to the above technical attributes. Bitcoin is famous for storing value and Ethereum for running code (known as smart contract). Doing so in a decentralized fashion generates interest for many.
I think it’s an important question to ask ourselves when investing into an asset: what is its potential to disrupt positively the world?