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Frequently Asked Questions

For Crypto Users

If you got your ICO rated, the reach of your ICO to various classes of investors increases significantly. This can happen in two ways:

  • Many investors don’t have the resources and/or are not savvy enough to go through the entire whitepaper or conduct an appropriate due diligence of the ICO and underlying business of the issuer. For these large number of investors, CAR rating platform provides an objective and easy to understand metric, in the form of our rating which can provide some basis for the investor to conduct further due diligence of her own.
  • Secondly, a rating on your ICO can act as a tool to spread the news about your ICO, as CAR has a group of investors who are subscribed to our rating platform. Along with this we also disseminate regular newsletters and social media posts featuring the recently rated ICOs. However, please note that all of our ratings are carried out objectively, by a team of experts. We follow and maintain a stringent governance structure which only considers the merit of a particular crypto asset and is not influenced by anything else.
  • If you are planning for an ICO or you have a live ICO in the market or you have already successfully raised through an ICO, you can get your crypto asset rated on our platform. We offer two types of listings – Basic Listing (free) and Advanced Listing (Paid). Read further to understand the cost involved in getting your ICO rated and what you can expect to get.
  • You can simply start the process by submitting THIS form and we’ll get back to you for subsequent steps.
  • You need to provide us with the ICO Whitepaper along with your request to be rated. Information on the Whitepaper should be the same as what goes out finally to the public.
  • Also, you need to fill out a questionnaire when submitting your request to be rated. The questionnaire has been designed to extract information and understand the business model to draw a comprehensive picture of your business and the ICO, without infringing on any confidential information. Still, if you deem any information requested to be confidential, you can choose not to divulge it – but there may be demerit points for this action in the rating algorithm.
  • Lastly, after we have shared the information provided with our analyst pool, they may have follow-up questions on the business. CAR will collate those follow-up questions and come back to you with a list of most pertinent questions. Again, if you deem any information requested to be confidential, you can choose not to divulge – but there might be some associated demerit points, especially if a majority of our analysts feel that the information is crucial for an objective rating.

After the rating exercise is completed based on the initial set of information provided, the crypto-asset issuer is notified of the rating and the major considerations supporting it. A rating can be appealed prior to its publication on the CAR website, if meaningful new or additional information is presented by the issuer. Obviously, there is no guarantee that any new information will alter the rating committee’s decision. For details and update on this process, please visit our site at www. cryptoassetrating.com

  • All published ratings are monitored on an ongoing basis, including review of key milestones. Surveillance also enables analysts to stay abreast of current developments, discuss potential problem areas, and be apprised of any changes in the issuer’s plans. As a result of the surveillance process, it is sometimes necessary to update a rating or provide a notification to the investors. If warranted, a comprehensive analysis may also be undertaken.
  • While undertaking a review of the assigned rating, CAR team may reach out to you asking for more information. It is in your best interest to provide as much information as possible so that we come up with the most accurate rating for your crypto asset during the review process.

For Crypto Investors

  • An unbiased rating system developed by a team of subject matter experts helps the investors navigate their way through the clutter of ICOs and identify suitable investment opportunities. Our rating system is an objective analysis of the underlying business (along with various other factors) and hence a fraudulent ICO with a frivolous or non-existent underlying business gets filtered out and can help investors separate the wheat from the chaff.
  • According to various estimates, there can be an average of 5-6 ICO issuances every day in 2018. This sheer volume of ICOs makes it impossible for a diversified investor to analyze each of those ICOs properly. In this scenario, with a dedicated team and an analysis engine powered by a robust algorithm, CAR can analyze the relevant ICOs with a consistent framework defined by similar parameters.
  • The overall rating for a particular crypto-asset will act as an overall indicator of the quality of the ICO. This rating is not an investment recommendation but investors can use this overall rating to either make an investment decision or can decide to filter/avoid various ICOs to do further due diligence of their own.
  • We will also publish detailed rating reports for all crypto assets rated; however, these reports will only be available to our paid subscribers. These subscribers can use the reports to get a detailed understanding of the various aspects of the crypto asset and the related rating for each of those aspects. E.g. if an investor is particularly interested to know more about the legal aspect of an ICO, he/she can go to the legal risk segment and related comments to understand it.
  • Depending on whether you are an institutional or retail investor, we have different pricing plans to access our rating reports and related services.
  • The details of the plans are available on our website.
  • You need to submit a request for that particular crypto asset to be rated. Once we have enough interest from different investors/stakeholders for a particular crypto asset, we will reach out to the crypto asset issuer and will subsequently start the rating exercise.
  • If the crypto asset issuer is not interested in getting their crypto asset rated and hence does not divulge required information, we may come up with a basic rating based on the available information in the secondary domain.

General

  • Crypto assets are an evolving asset class and ICOs as investment tool are in the infancy of its life cycle. An Initial Coin Offering (“ICO”) is a way for start-up companies to raise capital by selling tokens (crypto assets). ICOs are quickly revolutionizing the fund raising model and becoming a preferred method of fund raising among issuers. ICO’s offer many advantages over traditional methods like VC funding because of the rapid turnaround time and lower costs due to the lack of intermediaries (middlemen). They also give issuers the benefit of direct along direct reach to investors. These benefits also come with many risks to the crypto investor. The market has been plagued with some cases of outright fraud, or cases where the project never comes to fruition. Investors have little to no recourse because there is no trusted intermediary performing any kind of regulatory oversight or vetting of the offerings.
  • Most of the crypto asset investors are multi-asset institutional investors who lack the particular expertise or are non-sophisticated retail investors, who lack the resources to do thoroughly research the crypto assets they invest in. Unlike traditional investors in the public market, who have access to countless resources for measuring their risk, ICO investors have very limited information they can rely on about the project or company in which they are investing.
  • In this scenario, an unbiased rating system developed by a team of subject matter experts helps investors navigate the clutter of ICOs and identify suitable investment opportunities. CAR’s rating system is an objective analysis of the underlying business (along with various other factors) and hence a fraudulent ICO with a frivolous or non-existent underlying business gets filtered out and can help investors separate the wheat from the chaff.

The CAR ecosystem primarily consists of two verticals as follows:

  • There is a colossal need for a comprehensive rating framework for crypto assets, to help investors navigate the clutter of ICOs. CAR has designed a comprehensive rating algorithm for the crypto assets to help people understand the long-term viability of a crypto asset and the company/ platform issuing it. CAR’s analytical rating framework is divided into several categories to ensure salient qualitative and quantitative issues are considered. The rating of a crypto asset will be handled by CAR’s internal analysts as well as a selected pool of qualified external (or community) analysts. All the rating scores are stored in smart contracts for auditability. The proprietary algorithm, combined with strong research and governance structure consists of Junior analysts, Lead analysts, External analysts and a Review committee. We strive to provide the most objective and transparent ratings.
  • Crypto Business World or “CBW” is a content platform focused on the crypto market. CBW will be supported by the in-house team and a group of crowdsourced content creators. CAR believes that there can be no better content creator than the analysts themselves as they are interacting with market on a regular basis. As such, CAR will encourage the external analysts to produce quality content for CBW and ensure they are appropriately rewarded and incentivized.
  • A crypto asset rating on CARP is CAR’s opinion of the investment quality of individual token issuance and/or of an issuer’s general investment attractiveness. This rating is CAR’s opinion of the general business attractiveness of a cryptoasset issuer, and/or a particular crypto-asset issuance, based on relevant risk factors.
  • Ratings are not recommendations to buy or sell or hold a particular crypto-asset or token, nor are they a guarantee that default will not occur. In addition, a rating does not comment on the suitability of an investment for a particular investor in a particular crypto-asset.
  • CAR assembles a team of Junior Analysts or “JA” with appropriate expertise and relevant industry experience to initiate the rating process. Each member of the analytical team conducts the rating process individually and in parallel, to ensure that different viewpoints from multiple analysts are captured.
  • Based on a robust algorithm, a Rating Engine or “RE” aggregates the scores form all the analysts and determines the final rating, which then gets submitted to the Lead Analyst or “LA”.
  • The LA reviews a system-generated score-sheet which provides the scores from each analyst, the aggregated score by the RE and the standard deviations. If the standard deviation for a rating parameter is higher than a predetermined threshold value or in cases where the Lead Analyst assessment differs significantly from the aggregated score, he or she raises a clarification-flag with a particular JA and a communication thread gets initiated automatically between the LA and the JA. If satisfied with the clarification from the JA, the LA may decide to retain the score or can override. Once all the scores get reviewed and finalized at LA’s end, she submits the scorecard to the Review Committee or “RC”.

CAR strives to gather as much information as possible about the issuer as well as the issuance. CAR aims to provide an advanced rating only when there is adequate information available form credible sources and only after applicable quantitative, qualitative, technical and legal analyses are performed. In general, CAR uses the followings as the basis for the rating process; however, the list is not exhaustive.

  • White Paper;
  • Other publicly available data such as information listed on the company website, financial reports of the issuer (if available) etc;
  • Books or articles from academic sources, financial journals, news reports;
  • Discussions with expert sources in the industry, academia etc;

Additionally, CAR also receives documents from the crypto asset issuers which are not available in public domain such as:

  • Product development roadmap and progress made;
  • Financial statements;
  • Company registration documents;
  • Cap table etc.

If the data is confidential, CAR strictly observes this.

  • Junior Analysts – These analysts are selected based on their expertise and experience in dealing with crypto-assets. For any rating project, we choose a group analysts from our available pool of internal junior analysts covering all areas of expertise required to rate that particular project.
  • Lead Analyst – This group is comprised of 3-4 senior analysts who are skilled in the crypto-asset field and capable of overseeing the rating project. For every rating project CAR assigns a LA to that project. They supervise the work of the junior analysts and provide inputs where necessary. The Lead Analyst also acts as a bridge between the Junior Analysts and the ICO issuer during the rating project.
  • External Analysts – We expose a subset of the rating parameters to the registered and approved External Analysts (EA). CAR makes effort to ensure that the relevant external analysts are selected to provide scores for rating a particular crypto asset (to the extent possible). This is ensured by a mapping algorithm, which maps the profiles/ competencies of the external analysts with the domain of a particular crypto asset.
  • Review Committee – The RC consists of experts from each of the following domains – Industry, Technology, Legal and Financial. Each expert reviews the scores for her segment of expertise and attests with an up-vote/ down-vote with supporting comment or clarification questions. This RC remains same for all rating projects to have a level consistency across various rating projects.

For External Analysts

  • CAR has its own team of expert rating analysts who are on CAR’s payroll. However, CAR believes that there are a lot many experts available externally, in different parts of the world, who are extremely enthusiastic about the crypto world and always stay abreast about the development. We want to tap their expertise, in addition to our own set of internal analysts, to contribute to our platform (both CARP and CBW). Therefore, CAR encourages all crypto enthusiasts to register on our platform as External Analysts (EAs or Community Analysts. An EA can provide scores for rating parameters, write articles, posts videos, podcasts etc and get benefitted.
  • If you are a crypto asset enthusiast and follow the ICO market, we’d love to have you as a community analyst on our platform. To become a rating analyst, you first need to submit a request on our platform. Please provide as much information about yourself to justify your candidature.
  • We would be very keen to know your expertise, interest in crypto asset rating etc. Apart from the rating exercises, you will have multiple different avenues to add value to our platform and receive the many benefits (discussed later in this document).
  • Once we receive your application, our internal review team will evaluate your candidature and appraise you of the outcome. There may be one round of telephonic or skype discussion as well (depending on our confidence on your profile).
  • If you are selected to be an analyst on our platform, we’ll then send you the documents with an agreement and T&Cs. After completing the documentation, you’ll be formally onboarded as an analyst on our platform.
  • In case you are not selected for this time, don’t get disheartened. Please continue to build your profile and you can resubmit your candidature after a cooling off period of two months.
  • Based on your expertise and experience, we’ll keep sending you different crypto assets for rating. On a best-effort basis, we try to match your expertise with the domain of a particular crypto asset. For example, if a fintech company is launching its ICO, we aim to assign the rating to the analysts with background
    and expertise in fintech. You can also express your interest to rate a particular crypto asset by clicking on “Interested to Rate” button for that asset.
  • For each crypto asset, we allow only a limited fixed number of community analysts to provide their scores. We generally send the rating request for a particular crypto asset to sufficient number of analysts, keeping a buffer on top of the required number of analysts. Once an analyst received a rating request she can accept or decline the same. If accepted, we add him or her to the final accepted list of analysts for that crypto asset and enable their scoring sheet for that crypto asset.
  • If an analyst doesn’t submit her final score along with commentary within 120 hrs of accepting the rating request, her scoring screen will be automatically disabled and another analyst will be pulled in from the reserve pool.
  • Once your scoring screen is enabled, you’ll see 15 questions/parameters to provide your scores on. The scores for each parameter can be selected from the drop-down and a supporting commentary for the score given, which is mandatory for each parameter. The required documents about the crypto asset can be found and downloaded from the listing page of that crypto asset.
  • You can see the text or definition of a particular rating parameter and the different scores. Details of these can also be found in the “Methodology” section. You can complete the rating in a single go or save intermittently with the “save” button before submitting the final version. However, you must submit the scores and rational before the due date. Once the scores are submitted they get stored on a smart contract.
  • You can reach out to CAR team with your query, specifying what additional information you are looking for. We might provide you that information after consultation with the ICO issuer. Otherwise, if the information is deemed confidential by the ICO issuer and/or CAR and cannot be divulged, you will be advised to score that rating parameter according to your judgement based on available information.
  • If the CAR team comes across similar queries from multiple analysts, we will push the ICO issuer to provide the required information and might award them some demerit points if they fail to do so.
  • There are financial rewards for rating/reviewing a crypto asset. These details can be accessed from our website.
  • CAR reserves the right to change, update, or modify the reward & benefit structure with little or no notice. You are advised to access the latest reward structure from the website. Details regarding can be found
  • After you submit the scores and commentary, you will be notified within 5 working days if your scores have been approved based on our Quality Score. You will receive the financial rewards within 3 working days of this notification of approval. If your Quality score doesn’t meet the internal threshold, you will be notified accordingly and your scores will be disqualified. Consequently, there will not be any payment rewarded.
  • If you are rating multiple crypto-assets on our platform, the rewards for each rating you provide is independent from one another.

Yes. You need to have ERC20 compatible Wallet.

Apart from the financial reward, CAR will also provide the analysts with a platform to advertise their skills by publishing their blogs, videos etc.  We will also highlight profiles of selected external analysts on our website. For more details please reach out to us via contact form.