Additional Wall Street money might start making its way into cryptocurrency investments soon. An American rating agency is set to issue grades for bitcoin and a host of altcoins this week, possibly opening the door for more fund managers to enter the field.
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Weiss Cryptocurrency Ratings
Weiss Ratings, a U.S. independent rating agency, had announced that it will issue letter grades on cryptocurrencies, to be released Wednesday January 24. Beyond market leader bitcoin (BTC), the rating agency will also issue grades for ethereum (ETH), Ripple’s XRP, bitcoin cash (BCH), cardano (ADA), NEM (XEM), litecoin (LTC), stellar (XLM), EOS, IOTA, Dash, NEO, TRON, Monero (XMR), bitcoin gold (BTG) and many others.
The rating agency, which was founded in 1971, grades about 55,000 institutions and investments including banks, credit union, insurance companies, stocks, ETFs and mutual funds. Unlike Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, Fitch and A.M. Best, Weiss Ratings prides itself on never accepting compensation of any kind from the entities it rates.
The Importance of a Rating for Bitcoin
The new cryptocurrency ratings are a first for any U.S. financial rating agency. They are said to be based on a model that analyzes thousands of data points on each coin’s technology, usage, and trading patterns. Besides enabling cautious investors to better assess the risks associated with an instrument they wish to invest in, ratings also define what trades many fund managers are allowed to take part in.
“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.”
Will this development help make bitcoin investments more mainstream on Wall Street? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
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