Ethereum best blockchain project ahead of bitcoin, according to ratings released by China
Beijing to have national standard for blockchain projects, with guidelines expected by 2019 end
China has rated Ethereum, a cryptocurrency most commonly used in initial coin offerings, as best among 28 blockchain projects, according to rankings published by the China Center for Information Industry Development (CIID) on Thursday.
Bitcoin was, however, the most innovative out of the projects. NEO, a public blockchain that raised 30 million yuan (US$4.71 million) through an ICO last year, scored highest in terms of its application potential, according to a post on a media site owned by the centre. The research institute comes under the supervision of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
“Blockchains are highly diverse in what they are trying to accomplish, and many try to quite creatively distinguish themselves from each other. Even relatively objective metrics like transaction throughput, count or market capitalisation are relatively meaningless to seasoned observers,” said Leonhard Weese, president of the Bitcoin Association of Hong Kong.
“So it is very difficult to follow the ministry’s reasoning and quantification of a far more complicated criteria, like ‘innovation’ or ‘application’,” said Weese.
He said comparing the rankings of blockchain projects was like pitting social-media networks such as Twitter and LinkedIn against each other on the basis of their innovation and application. “It just makes no sense,” said Weese.