Investing in cryptocurrencies (CC for short) has its own rules. If you want to have a better chance in CC, you must follow these rules. I have explained the first rule here. Today I want to explain another important rule.

Rule # 2: Look for Previous Achievements

There are many coins with so many big promises. But there is a long way between promises and achievements. The founder of a team may have a great vision, but making that vision is not an easy task. In fact, most of the projects will eventually fail to achieve their said goals and visions.

Therefore, it is highly recommended that you invest only in CCs that have a successful history in their portfolio. The more the past achievements, the better.

Historical Achievements Meter

In my previous article, I have introduced the Real Value Meter which is used to measure the real value offered by a cryptocurrency. Today, I would like to suggest a similar meter for historical achievements.

If a coin has a solid history of achievements, it should get a 10 out of 10 in this meter. On the other hand, a CC with no real achievements should get a zero. Of course, you should look for CCs that has a score of 5 or higher.

So, What is Real Achievement Anyway?

So, what is considered a real achievement? The answer, in short, is * any goal that is put in the road map of that project and then accomplished*. Some examples of good achievements include (but are not limited to):

• Implementing a running wallet (having different wallets for different platforms online and offline is even better. Having a good UI is another bonus)
• Run the CC blockchain successfully. (This means succeeding in attracting miners, which is very crucial in the success of a CC)
• Get the CC listed on respectable exchanges.
• Offering a useful website. It should provide all needed info for users and investors.
• Running an application (Yhis is a very important achievement, and even a Beta is counted, though a stable one is much better)
• Providing a real service to real customers for real money.
• Making profit.

Example - 1: Ethereum

Ethereum has accomplished many goals. It has many wallets for most of the platforms. It has a running blockchain. On of the goals that were promised by the Ethereum team was the smart contracts functionality and providing a platform for other CCs to be built upon. Ether has delivered all that. Yes, it is not stable yet. So, it loses some points here.

Moreover, Ethereum has provided real services. On of those services is transferring funds. Another service is helping many projects to create their own tokens and offer an ICO easily. Another service is helping their customers to build Dapps and tools for the blockchain easily. Lately, it was even announced that Singapore is planning to use Ethereum to create it is own digital currency.

Based on all of that, I would give Ether a score of 8/10.

Example - 2: Stratis

Stratis is a platform designed to help building applications for the blockchain using the widely adopted C# language. It is a very promising project. It definitely offers a real value by opening the blockchain technology to the huge C# community. But if you check its achievements list, you can see that they have not achieved much yet. Its team is a good one, and I have high hopes for them, but we are not talking about hopes today. We are looking for real solid achievements.

An article posted on their website summarizes their accomplishments like this:

In the past few months, they have so far:
• Completed the Stratis Full Node (on test)
• Got listed on multiple exchanges including Bittrex and Poloniex
• Occupied a booth beside MS at London’s Blockchain Expo – engaging with key business players leading to follow up meetings in UK and US
• Given a talk at The Blockchain Event, Ft Lauderdale, USA
• Been added to MS Azure
• Become an official coin on Ledger Hardware Wallet with no fee paid for inclusion
• Recruited extremely impressive advisors to their board. This includes Cesar Castro, founder and managing partner of Escalate Group and Mahesh Chand, founder of C# Corner – a forum for C# developers with over two million members.
• Through Escalate, engaged the help of Seraph, a global network of investors and family offices with experience in the cryptocurrency sphere to help with their VC funding strategy.
• Secured a coveted key-note slot at one of the world’s biggest C# conferences to be held in Ghaziabad, India mid-April.

In my opinion, this is a mediocre resume. Stratis is designed to help customers build blockchain applications, but until now no application has been developed and no contract with a customer has been signed. Therefore, I will give Stratis a score of 5.0.

Example - 3: Storj

Storj is a decentralized encrypted cloud storage. It is like the Uber of cloud storage. It is a great project that deserves a separate detailed article. As for now I only want to point out their achievements. They have an excellent resume. You can rarely find such a list of accomplishments. It is enough to say that they have a working product that is being purchased by thousands of customers. It is getting the attention of big corporates. Thier service is out of Beta and stable for a while now. In short, they have accomplished much of their original vision. Now they are building on it.

With such achievements, I believe that it deserves a score of 9.0.

Does this Apply to ICOs?

Yes it definitely does! If a the project offering the ICO has a good achievements record, that would make it more valueable. Obviously, this does not mean that you should not buy any ICO without a historical achievements. There many other factors you shoud consider.

What is a Real Achievement in your opion?

Which project has a very high score on the Real Achievements Meter ?

Tell me what do you think?