On the Weiss Ratings homepage, there is a live countdown to its upcoming release of “…the First Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Grades by Any Rating Agency in the World.” Dramatic, much?
Although impartial ratings are a crucial step for investment credibility, I want to remind readers that it is incredibly hard to price cryptocurrencies, much less assign them a letter grade for safety.
Nonetheless, if you’re interested in the reports, you can have them delivered straight to your inbox at 2:00 p.m. (UTC). Below is a quick breakdown of what you should expect.
- Weiss is probably bearish on crypto. In the teaser for the reports, Weiss called digital currencies “murky, overhyped and vulnerable to crashes.” He added that only a handful are worth investing in and is quoted as saying, “Our ratings are…bound to create controversy, including some grades that may come as a surprise to some people.” (Source: “Weiss Announces First Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Grades by U.S. Rating Agency,” Weiss Ratings, last accessed January 24, 2018.)
- Why? Because Weiss is contrarian. The company (and its founder) are fond of moving against conventional wisdom. In the early 1990s, Weiss issued terrible investment grades for some of the biggest insurers in the world. Travelers Corporation was one of them. Officials from the company even came to his office in an attempt to get a positive review but they were rebuffed because Weiss doesn’t take industry contributions. They are independent. (Source: “The Bad Boy of Insurance Ratings,” The New York Times, January 5, 1992.)
- Weiss will deliver letter grades for: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, NEM, Litecoin, Stellar, EOS, IOTA, Dash, NEO, TRON, Monero, Bitcoin Gold.
In other Ethereum news, the World Economic Forum is underway in Davos, Switzerland.
Ethereum Price Chart
Blockchain is already a major topic of discussion. More important, though, is how people are talking about blockchain. They aren’t mentioning it as a cute side project or a wouldn’t-it-be-nice daydream, they’re having serious debates about its potential to disrupt global finance.
Keep an eye out for conversations about initial coin offerings (ICOs). ICOs raised $3.4 billion without any government oversight. There are a lot of raised eyebrows about that, because it poses a threat to venture capital and the IPO process.
Got it. But what does all this mean for ETH prices?
Analyst Take
Ethereum prices are rebounding at the moment, having risen 7.36% against the U.S. dollar. This brought the Ethereum to USD exchange rate to $1,011.23, a welcome return to the land of four digits.
I find it hard to believe that Weiss Ratings can derail this recovery. Unless, of course, they receive a helping hand from the mainstream media. That would change the math completely.
As a result, I’m waiting to see if Fortune, Barron’s, or Bloomberg picks up the story. If they do, brace for impact, because ETH prices might experience another panicked sell-off.
That said, short-term wrinkles smooth out over the long term, and I still expect ETH to reach our $1,500 Ethereum price forecast by midsummer.
Source: Price Confidential