Read original blog here.

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Weiss Announces First Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Grades by U.S. Rating Agency

Risky Crypto Market to Get the Clarity Only Impartial Ratings Can Provide

Palm Beach Gardens, FL — Weiss Ratings, the nation’s leading independent rating agency of financial institutions, will issue letter grades on cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, NEM, Litecoin, Stellar, EOS, IOTA, Dash, NEO, TRON, Monero, Bitcoin Gold and many others.

The new Weiss Cryptocurrency Ratings, to be released January 24, are the first by a financial rating agency. They are based on a groundbreaking model that analyzes thousands of data points on each coin’s technology, usage, and trading patterns.

“Many cryptocurrencies are murky, overhyped and vulnerable to crashes. The market desperately needs the clarity that only robust, impartial ratings can provide,” said Weiss Ratings founder, Martin D. Weiss, PhD. “We’re proud to be the first to bring that benefit to investors — to help them cut through the hype and identify the few truly solid cryptocurrencies. Our ratings are based on hard data and objective analysis. But they're bound to create controversy, including some grades that may come as a surprise to some people.”

Weiss Ratings, which began in 1971, 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. Its independence and accuracy have been noted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, among others.

Martin Weiss and his lead analysts will be available for interviews at the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami, January 18–19.

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My Commentary

Investors in the traditional markets pay a lot of attention to these ratings. I think it will be interesting to note that they imply most cryptos will get a poor rating, while the ones that get high ratings will come as a surprise.

If you read my posts, you will be aware that by objective metrics Steem is leading the pack in the crypto space. If the agency really does focus on objective metrics, it should end up with a high rating. That would certainly be a surprise to the broader crypto market, but should be no surprise to us.

The real question will be how objective these ratings really are. Rating agencies don't inspire the same confidence that they did just a few years ago. It will be interesting for me to see how these ratings are done, if they are so transparent/public in their analysis. I am sure more conventional investors will find these ratings of interest as well.

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