Investors Are Lazy — A 100% honest ICO rating system is what we need

Many investors are still too focused on evaluating the idea or concept an ICO is introducing. There is more to an ICO than merely the concept and it is important to look beyond the product itself to see the full picture of the ICO. Many ‘how to evaluate an ICO’ articles propose researching elements, such as the ICO’s community activity and token details (usage, distribution). However, these details are too general. Properly researching a project is of great importance, and it is especially important to research the team behind the ICO.

Investors are lazy

Yes, we are all lazy. Have you ever researched a person so much in detail, that he almost reported you for stalking? Guess not.

However, we need a great deal of due diligence before choosing to invest in a project. Who should pick up the responsibility? Many websites with ICO lists provide information that is backed by a deep level of research. However, trust in these sites has drastically dropped recently. Think about the Benebit scam. Benebit had one of the best ratings on ICOBench.

Can we blame ICO listing websites for not doing full due diligence? In the end, we as investors are still responsible for our own actions. The incentive for ICO listing websites is money. Money is the key element that drives our ICO space. Some ICO listing websites have been accused of accepting money in return for a higher ICO score.

ICO rating systems contain weaknesses, including the impartiality, validity, and potential for corruption of the raters. — On Yavin, Cointelligence

Important note: It’s not necessarily a bad thing to accept money for listing an ICO, as it proves you incentivize your employees to do proper due diligence about a project.

The Solution is Simple — A 100% Honest ICO Rating System

Cointelligence aims to rebuild the trust in the cryptocurrency community and become the center of authenticity and honesty. They want to restore the trust issues by providing the hard truth in combination with quality analysis.

Why Cointelligence?

Cointelligence was founded in 2017 as the data layer and central nervous system of the crypto economy. They provide relevant tools for investors, such as their ICO list and rating system. They also publish unique, non-sponsored articles. However, Cointelligence is more than just a media publication; Cointelligence is focused on providing accurate and relevant information to bring blockchain and cryptocurrencies to the investors, thus bridging the gap in the crypto economy.

100% Honest — How?

• Cointelligence’s ICO rating system is based solely on facts.
• Valid raters — At most companies, almost anyone can become a rater, or pretend to be a crypto expert. At Cointelligence, applicants are thoroughly vetted. Each applicant is tested to reveal their level of knowledge and understanding of the crypto ecosystem and blockchain technologies.
• Impartial raters — The identities of raters are not disclosed so they can provide 100% honest and anonymous reviews. Doing so, raters cannot be solicited for higher ratings and they don’t have to worry about being threatened for negative reviews they wrote. Moreover, there is another layer of paid employees who have the task to check ratings and make sure raters are not linked to the involved project.
• Data integrity — Cointelligence checks all reviews to make sure the data is valid.

Source: Norton Finance

Criteria

Cointelligence validates ICO projects using the following criteria in order to provide a complete view of the project to investors.

1. Data Integrity — Check the quality of the provided ICO information and whitepaper.
2. Team Identification — Review the team members based on social media accounts, online activity, past experience (Github), validating LinkedIn recommendations.
3. Vision — Determine how realistic the project is.
4. Product — Evaluate the state of the product: prototype / MVP / main net.
5. Marketing — Analyse the quality of the publicized content.
6. Social Engagement — Analyse sentiment, follower base, and the quality of engagements in the Telegram chat or Reddit thread.

All of the above criteria will receive a score between 0 and 10. A final risk score will be calculated based on the weight of each criterion. This score and the full report are published on the Cointelligence website.

A detailed list of all criteria and the division of the points can be found at Cointelligence.

Paid or free listings?

On Yavin explained why he doesn’t accept paid ratings.

“Accepting payments for a rating sounds like bribery, and even if it isn’t, the ICO may expect that since he paid money for the rating, he will get a higher score. We will avoid these types of situations at all costs. That being said, we do charge for promoted listings, which places the ICO at the top of our list and allows people to see it first, but this has nothing to do with the rating. Currently, normal listings are free. However, this is subject to change depending on the costs of our service.”

I fully agree that paying for a rating can give a wrong signal towards an ICO as he may expect a more positive rating. On the other side, it’s not an easy task to run a website and pay all validators with just money from advertising opportunities such as banners, blog posts, and press releases. However, we may not forget Cointelligence is funded by private backers to support Cointelligence his role as a source of truth within the blockchain and cryptocurrency space.

Cointelligence ICO Rating Platform

UX is of great importance. Cointelligence focuses on bringing an easy to use platform to filter projects based on elements like the availability of a KYC procedure or bounty campaign.

It is great to see websites like Cointelligence who really want to help the crypto community forward. The space already is polluted with several money grabbing ICO listing and media websites.