China has recently released its top 10 public blockchain rating list, with Ethereum coming at the lead with a score of 129.4. The three criteria used in the assessment are technology, innovation, and application.

Following Ethereum are Steem, Lisk, NEO, and Komodo with a respective score of 115.9, 104.8, 103.0, and 101.5. However, experts and the cryptocurrency community were baffled as to why the Chinese government placed Steem on second place.

The confusion revolves around the narrow capabilities that Steem offers. It is only a single application cryptocurrency use to incentivize users who create content on social media platforms. It’s basically Reddit but with a reward system added. Compare Steem to those sitting below it like Lisk and NEO that has base layer blockchain tech which is capable of constructing decentralized applications and one would also question the list.

Another baffling inclusion to the top 10 was Monero. The doubts over this cryptocurrency stem from it being able to process anonymous payments, which can be used for money laundering and illicit transactions. Monero’s activities have already been scrutinized by several countries including the Japanese government.

But what really made the community fuming was that Bitcoin only came in 13th place, sharing a place with Verge, a privacy-centered cryptocurrency. This is despite the fact that Bitcoin has dominated the market as the most popular cryptocurrency in the world for a long time. One of the major reasons that Bitcoin was placed outside the top 10 is its limited capacity to only operate within the sphere of payment. Of course, if this is the logic that the list justifies its ranking, then it’s an extremely flawed one since Steem came in second.

While Bitcoin scored the highest in the innovation criteria, it scored the lowest among the top 15 in the technology front and was only average in the application category. Ethereum, on the other hand, scored the best on application, placed second on technology, and was average in innovation totaling its score to 129.4.