Ethereum #1 Blockchain Network According To China; Bitcoin at #13

By Raghav Sawhney

The entire market is going crazy over cryptocurrency and the Blockchain technology. It is grabbing the attention of every major Government. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China has recently released its public Blockchain ratings, which rank various Blockchain projects in the global cryptocurrency sector based on three parameters: technology, application, and innovation.

The ratings have Ethereum ranked as the world’s best Blockchain network with Steem, Lisk, NEO, and Komodo being next in line. The feature which the top five have in common is their use of smart contracts to efficiently and securely process information in a decentralized manner. Bitcoin has surprisingly been ranked at number 13.

 

Steem’s appearance in the top five was also unexpected by the Blockchain community because it is not a base layer Blockchain technology that can create decentralized applications, unlike Lisk and NEO. Steem’s primary motive is content distribution based on the Blockchain technology. Essentially, Steem is like Reddit based on the decentralized Blockchain.

Bitcoin has been ranked at number 13 which has understandably outraged the entire community since Bitcoin has the longest track record as the most secure and dominant cryptocurrency in the global market.

The Chinese government’s argument is that Bitcoin’s application is limited to a form of money and payment. This is quite ridiculous considering Steem’s 2nd place ranking, which cannot be then justified since it has a single application on its Blockchain network which is a content distribution platform.

More importantly, Bitcoin has one of the most active open source development communities in the global cryptocurrency sector. It has also developed innovative technologies like Confidential Transactions (CT), Bulletproofs, and Lightning Network, which allows developers to enable private transactions and process micro-payments.

Monero has been ranked at number 9, which comes as a surprise to many since several governments including the Japanese government and its financial services agency (FSA) have voiced their reservations towards cryptocurrencies like Monero and Zcash. The reason for this is that these cryptocurrencies are capable of processing anonymous payments which could lead to fraudulent activities like money laundering.

Members of the cryptocurrency market are expecting that with the high ranking of Ethereum and smart contract Blockchain networks, the Chinese government could potentially allow some Blockchain networks to operate in China in the near future.