Altcoin News: Coinbase, Kraken and Others to Rate Crypto Assets

September 30, 2019, by Marko Vidrih on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE

Several cryptocurrency exchanges, including Coinbase, Kraken, Poloniex and Bittrex, have developed a system that will help determine which of the assets in this space can be recognized as securities.

According to The Wall Street Journal, based on the data provided by the system, exchange operators will make decisions about which cryptocurrencies to add to their trading platforms.

As part of the Cryptocurrency Evaluation Council, exchange operators will give ratings on available assets to a scale of 1 to 5, the value of which will correspond to the probability of recognition of the token as a security. At the same time, asset issuers will not be able to participate in their assessment, but they will be allowed to transmit information that could affect the final rating.

The initiative was supported by Anchor Labs, DRW Holdings, Genesis Global Trading, Grayscale Investments and Paxos Trust.

“It’s our hope the SEC [the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission] will view this as a positive step,” Mary Beth Buchanan, Kraken’s general counsel, was quoted as saying in the report. It “does show the SEC what each exchange is doing to come to a decision.”

According to WSJ, Bitcoin received a rating of 1, that is, it was recognized by the participants of the group as cryptocurrency, which has the least chance of being recognized as a security.

The Block analyst Larry Cermak gives ratings of other assets valued to date:

Maker — 4.5

Polymath — 4.5

XRP — 4

Augur — 3.75

Decentraland — 3.75

EOS — 3.75

FOAM — 3.75

Hedera Hashgraph — 3.75

Loom Network — 3.75

Stellar — 3.75

Tezos — 3.75

Algorand — 2

Chainlink — 2

Ethereum — 2

Numeraire — 2

Zcash — 2

Dai — 1

Litecoin — 1

Monero — 1

Image credit: The Block

What makes a token go from 4.5 in case of Maker to 5 where it is a clear security? If it’s “almost a security” based on this rating system, why is it listed on nearly all of these exchanges? Why is Maker higher than XRP and EOS? Cermak calls on the respondents of the rating.

Author: Marko Vidrih