Perhaps that the best part about the cryptocurrency world is the community and open-source ethic which always gives birth to fascinating projects. The community produces wallets with unique features, decentralized exchanges, informative blogs and even mainstream adoption schemes. The world of decentralization is mainly voluntary and anyone who wants to help is free to bring their own contribution.
The scope of classifying cryptocurrencies and drawing a line between the legitimate ones and the so-called “shitcoins” is brave and noble in itself, as it serves a technically-good purpose. But when a website like doiownashitcoin.com emerges and promises to do the entire community a huge service, to what extent can we really trust it? In order to determine the reliability of this project (which was started by two enthusiasts named Michael Rosenblat and Aaron Pardes), the top 10 coins from CryptoCompare.com will be tested through this filter. Are the results objective? Is there any bias involved? Well, let’s find out!
1. Bitcoin (BTC)
Unsurprisingly, the king of all coins receives a worthy treatment from the founders. Its immutability and great degree of decentralization are acknowledged in a short mention which makes it clear that BTC will never receive the “shitcoin” label. The commentary is fair, though slightly on the maximalist side.
2. Ethereum (ETH)
The second coin in terms of transaction volumes and market capitalization is also the one for which the website creators show a little bias. They indirectly acknowledge its questionable immutability and issues with decentralization of governance, but the message displayed is rather positive: Vitalik Buterin is brilliant, he created one hell of a coin, and if you own ETH then you should absolutely HODL. The lesser positive commentary concerns the long-term prospects of which nobody is really certain.
3. EOS
The Bitcoin maximalist perspective is confirmed with the third entry, as it becomes rather clear that Proof of Stake coins will probably do poorly. By using the term “mid-tier shitcoin” and pointing out the delays involved in the launch of the main net. However, there is some faith that can be interpreted in the last phrase: “let’s see how they do” is the drop of positivity which should make you HODL if you’re one of the folks who invested in EOS.
4. Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
The approach to the biggest hard fork of the original cryptocurrency is rather moderate and void of usual accusations. Saying that BCH isn’t the real Bitcoin is common sense and acknowledging that it’s a mid to top-tier coin is a fair acknowledgement of the potential this altcoin has. After all, it’s become integrated in pretty much every BTC project which Roger Ver has invested in, and nowadays you are able to use it to make purchases via BitPay in lots of places. Bitcoin Cash has value, but the fact that a large part of the supply has been minted out of thin air after the hard fork and the big block scaling solution creates centralization, raises some questions about the long-term sustainability.
5. Litecoin (LTC)
Satoshi Lite’s invention is the first in this ranking to get called a “shitcoin” without a ranking adjective to precede it. The creators of doiownashitcoin.com don’t specify whether or not they think that Litecoin is a mid-tier or upper-tier cryptocurrency. However, they call it “fast”. Presumably due to the 2.5-minute blocktime, bigger blocks, SegWit and Lightning Network implementation which make transactions instant. The description is pretty ambiguous, but the recommendation is that you should HODL it. It does everything Bitcoin Cash does, but it’s quicker, has smaller blocks, and implements the Lightning Network! The founder Charlie Lee sold all his coins at the top of the recent bull market which hasn’t been mentioned here.
6. Ripple (XRP)
As we’ve observed from the very beginning, the project is made by BTC fans who don’t have much faith in altcoins. But XRP is rather divisive due to its centralized governance and its purpose to support exactly the institutions which cryptocurrencies generally seek to undermine. Well, the answer that the creators of doiownashitcoin.com provide is both diplomatic and challenges your decentralization ethos. Of course, the project is here to stay, but would you really support such an invention?
7. Ethereum Classic (ETC)
The original Ethereum blockchain (and the one which stuck to its immutability) is a rather interesting project which promises to offer pretty much everything ETH does, but under the continuous governance provided by the proof of work mining algorithm. It also has a fixed supply and a more accessible entry price, but ICO’s don’t seem to be as interested in it yet. With its addition to Binance and Coinbase, we might be looking at a sleeping giant that will soar by the end of the year. But the answer you get from the doiownashitcoin.com website is rather cryptic – ETC is “some solid shit”. So is it a good coin? It is a shitcoin? We’ll probably have to tweet the creators and ask for a specific answer on this one.
8. Tronix (TRX)
Justin Sun’s TRX is a pretty divisive project. On one hand, people praise its ambition and its creator’s business skills. On the other hand, critics such as Vitalik Buterin point out that most of the whitepaper is plagurized. Also, there is a relentless hyping and the claims that the project is making is seemingly unrealistic. This exact feeling of doubt is expressed in the description for Tronix, yet there’s a subtle trace of hope and positivity which should make coin HODLers think twice before dumping all of their assets. The “low to mid-tier” classification will definitely trigger some Twitter fans.
9. Ontology (ONT)
Now this is an interesting project which somehow managed to defy the market trends and rise in spite of the bearish movements. Built on the NEO blockchain, the Ontology token serves as an incentive to create other blockchain-related projects. Its novelty is given by the fact that it facilitates businesses and private individuals to build their platforms without having any prior knowledge on how the technology works. It’s exactly the kind of interface that business’s need and its success is somewhat deserved. The doiownashitcoin.com founders have a short and clear message about this one.
10. Binance Coin (BNB)
The next coin in line was DASH, but it turns out that the website isn’t as complete as we thought – there was no result for the privacy coin. That’s why we went for number 11, which is Binance’s own token. It’s used to reduce transaction fees on the platform and incentivize users to keep on trading at Binance, the feedback from the doiownashitcoin.com creators seem to be quite positive. This is one to HODL, as Binance will exponentially grow as more people enter the cryptocurrency world.
Conclusion
The opinions of the creators are certainly biased and they’re guaranteed to receive lots of complaints from the tribalistic communities of coins which are poorly reviewed. However, there is a sense of objectivity that one can find in terms of performance and long-term prospects. The “shitcoin” term is used rather liberally and light-heartedly, so nobody should really get offended unless the verdict is to “dump”.
The obvious conclusion is that the creators are Bitcoin maximalists and fans of the proof of work projects, though they do give credit to well-performing cryptocurrencies. They clearly aren’t conservatives and their opinions are certainly worth checking out – if not for the information value, then at least for the humour.
