China Ranks Cryptocurrencies, Places Bitcoin 13th

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has just released its public blockchain ratings.

This ranking comes a month after they announced that they would be doing a monthly independent analysis of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies.

They have ranked the entire cryptocurrency sector by three criteria: innovation, application, and technology.

The rankings place bitcoin, the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency in 13th place with Ethereum claiming the top spot.

The rankings caught a lot of cryptocurrency analysts by surprise as the top five positions on the list, besides Ethereum, included Lisk, Steem, NEO and Komodo. All of these cryptocurrencies share the fact that they use smart contracts and have a way to decentralize the secure processing of information. Some of these cryptocurrencies featured in the top 5 are currencies that the casual cry that the casual cryptocurrency user would not have heard of.

However, the real big surprise was the fact that bitcoin received such a low ranking. Bitcoin shares its position with Verge, a cryptocurrency that focuses on privacy for the user. According to the criteria used, bitcoin only scored 88 points due to the fact that it received low scores in all three categories. The ranking has not gone down well with bitcoin enthusiasts as bitcoin is the oldest and most dominant coin in the market.

Many analysts say that the scoring system was unfair and are unhappy to see bitcoin get low scores in the technology and innovation categories. Bitcoin boasts one of the most active open source development communities in the cryptocurrency market. Some of the innovations that were originally designed for bitcoin but they have spread out to other coins. This includes features like Confidential Transactions, micro-payments and RootStock, which can potentially allow bitcoin to operate as a smart contracts platform.

China Continues To Keep Close Watch On Cryptocurrencies

These rankings are another step in China’s plan to take control of its cryptocurrency market. Recently, the Chinese government cracked down on initial coin offerings (ICOs). Additionally, virtual currency trades are not allowed in the Chinese market. The rankings on the cryptocurrency industry is yet another measure taken by Beijing to give the government better insight and control over the cryptocurrency market.

The public blockchain ranking was developed by the China Center for Information Industry Development (CIID). This center has great influence on policy making for cryptocurrencies and may reflect future government approaches to the crypto market.