China is one of the countries that started having stricter rules towards cryptocurrencies. The ban started since last September 2017 before Bitcoin even reached the near $20,000 value before the end of 2017.
In fact, until now, it still continues to crack down on mining operations. This is the reason why Chinese police were able to seize the 600 Bitcoin mining hardware that may have been stolen from Iceland.
Now, to the surprise of most crypto enthusiasts, China Center for Information Industry Development is going to come up with a list of cryptocurrencies for their cryptocurrency ratings index. The digital currencies will include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, Cardano, NEO, Monero IOTA, Ethereum Classic, NEM, Dash, Ark, Komodo, Decred, Quantum, Nano, Lisk, Verge, Zcash, and Stratis.
The ratings will then be released in just a matter of days. In addition to this, China is also looking to create a national standard for blockchain tech. This way, it can provide businesses with guidelines that they can follow when it comes to adopting distributed ledgers. The national standard is expected by the end of next year.
Lack of Completely Independent Assessment
The index is going to be made mainly due to the “lack of completely independent assessment/rating” when it comes to both digital currencies and blockchain projects.
This project also aims to overlook all the efforts exerted by the international rating agency Weiss. Weiss this year has issued some controversial verdicts when it comes to cryptocurrencies such as Ripple, Ethereum, and Bitcoin.
Weiss gave Bitcoin a controversial C+ rating that triggered South Korean Bitcoin investors to allegedly launch the DDoS attack that monetarily shut down Weiss Ratings’ website. There were no cryptocurrencies that were able to get an A on the list. In fact, Dogecoin was given a C just placing it slightly below Bitcoin when it comes to confidence.
According to the CCID press release: “This independent analysis of cryptocurrencies and global public blockchain technology demonstrates the confidence of the Chinese Government in the technology, and will act as a guide for government, enterprise and research institute”.
This project is meant in order to “scientifically evaluate the development level” of existing blockchain technologies today. This will help in providing “professional consulting services for governments, enterprises, research institutes, and technology developers”.
Criteria For Rating
There are five criteria that will be used in order to rate the cryptocurrencies. This includes:
- The project should have an independent main chain
- The nodes can be created freely
- Should include a published block explorer that block information can be tracked
- It should be an open source code
- Project team members should be on a website where they are easy to contact
How will this affect the overall price of cryptocurrencies? Will the Chinese government provide a more transparent rating compared to that of Weiss? Even if China decides to still maintain its ban on crypto activities, this could help China in creating policies surrounding the crypto market. This could mean that China is also softening when it comes to its hard stance on cryptocurrencies since last September.
