EOS Leads China’s Blockchain Rankings Again, Bitcoin Still Out of Top 15
The Chinese government has released its third round of public blockchain rankings, and EOS — the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by total market cap — once again reigned supreme. EOS Tops China’s Blockchain Rankings for Second-Straight MonthThose rankings, published by the state-backed China Electronic Information Industry Development (CCID) and released this week, evaluated public blockchain networks according to three metrics, roughly translated as technology, applicability, and innovation, which were then compiled into an overall index score. Though scoring below its peers on applicability (middle column), EOS led the rankings with an index score of 145.6 due to strong showings in both the technology (left column) and innovation (right column) categories. The evaluators are clearly impressed with EOS’ consensus algorithm, which utilizes a Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) model to prioritize scaling and speed at the expense of some level of decentralization. Indeed, the rankings clearly favored projects that use DPoS or federated consensus models, which offer quicker and cheaper transactions but incite more criticisms related to centralization. Source: CCIDOne partial exception to that rule is Ethereum, which currently uses a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm but has published a roadmap detailing a future transition to the more energy-efficient Proof-of-Stake (PoS). This makes sense, as at least one Chinese government official has argued publicly that blockchains should be centralized, though, in fairness, none of these public cryptocurrency networks are as centralized as what that official believes is ideal. China Places Bitcoin Out of Top 15EOS also topped the list in the last edition of the CCID rankings, despite the fact that — just days prior — its network had stalled for multiple hours after encountering a critical bug. This bug was resolved relatively quickly, but several other incidents have raised questions about the cryptocurrency’s on-chain governance model and specifically its constitution. Notably, the gap between EOS and second-place Ethereum narrowed in the newly-published rankings as EOS’s score fell from 161.5 to 145.6 and Ethereum’s held relatively steady, clocking in at 137.3 for the month of July. Ethereum, as CCN reported, led the rankings in the first CCID report, which was published prior to the activation of the independent EOS blockchain. The remaining top 10 blockchains, in order, were Nebulas, GXChain, NEO, Stellar, Steem, Lisk, and — tied for ninth — Waves and Komodo. Continuing a trend from the previous month, Bitcoin did not even earn a spot in the top 15. The flagship cryptocurrency came in at 16th, representing a one-spot advance over last month’s 17th-place ranking. Perhaps needless to say, this ranking is controversial, as Bitcoin — widely-considered to have the industry’s most talented developers — has a technology score of just 44.3, the worst of any project evaluated in the CCID report. Notably, the rankings were once again a coup for developer Dan Larimer, who currently serves as CTO of blockchain startup Block.one. Three current and former Larimer projects — EOS, Steem, and BitShares — earned spots in top 11