Weiss Ratings, the financial ratings firm, released a report highlighting the cryptocurrencies they believe are the most likely to succeed.

Everyone loves a good list. People almost have an obsession to rank things in comparison to each other. Which Marvel movie is the best? (My answer is the first Captain America.) What state is the best to live in? (My preferences are ones with low taxes and good weather.) Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are much the same, debating the merits of one particular coin versus another. To that end, the latest report from Weiss Ratings is sure to spark some interest.

The Top Five from Weiss Ratings

Weiss Crypto Ratings, a subsidiary of Weiss Ratings, issued a report where they ranked cryptocurrencies according to tech/adoption and risk/reward. The tech/adoption applies more to long-term investors while risk/reward is more applicable to short-term investors.

Martin D. Weiss, founder of the company, says:

Despite lower prices since early 2018, our ratings model gives us hard evidence that a critical segment of the cryptocurrency industry has enjoyed remarkable growth in user transaction volume, network capacity, and network security. Equally important is our finding that these improvements are often powered by an evolution in the underlying technology. Therefore, for those willing to take the risk, the best time to invest could be very near.

If looking solely at tech/adoption, the ratings company ranks the following cryptocurrencies as the top five:

XRP, managed by Ripple, is best positioned to compete with SWIFT, the global network for interbank money transfers. Tech/Adoption Grade: A EOS is currently the leading cryptocurrency challenging Ethereum to become the backbone of the new internet. Tech/Adoption Grade: A Bitcoin, upgraded with the roll-out of its Lightning Network, is the best positioned to become a popular store of value for savers and investors. Tech/Adoption Grade: A Ethereum is the most widely used smart-contract platform, but currently faces difficulties with scaling. Tech/Adoption grade: A- Cardano aims to provide the most advanced smart contract capabilities, monetary policy and governance. Tech/Adoption Grade: B+

The remaining coins on their top ten list are Steem, NEO, Stellar, Zcash, and BitShares.

Not All Roses

The company notes that the risk associated with the cryptocurrency ecosystem is higher than other asset classes. When grading coins on risk/reward, no single virtual currency gets an A grade. In fact, only four coins (EOS, Ripple, Bitcoin, and Binance) get a B-.

Besides the coin rankings, the new report highlights five trends ongoing in the cryptocurrency sphere. These trends include improving adoption is being powered mostly by better technology, that an important segment of the cryptocurrency industry is enjoying stellar growth in the volume of user transactions, some cryptocurrencies are moving beyond the blockchain, Proof-of-Work coins are losing market share while Delegated Proof-of-Stake coins are rising, and that killer dApps will play the biggest role in determining the future winners.

Do you agree with the grades handed out by Weiss Ratings? Let us know in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Weiss Ratings, Pexels, and Pixabay.