The Chinese government has been releasing cryptocurrency rankings throughout 2018. This past week, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released its new cryptocurrency ranking index, placing EOS and Ethereum at the top once again.EOS was picked as the best cryptocurrency once again, followed by Ethereum in the second position.The biggest surprise on this latest rankings report was with bitcoin. Bitcoin, which was ranked at the 17th best cryptocurrency in the world on the last report, jumped all the way to the number 7 position in this new report. We are not sure whether to take this serious or not but at least they are starting to gather the importance and understanding of Bitcoin. While we want to add our own two tokens worth (pun intended) and throw no shade at ETH and EOS projects, it is near comical that Bitcoin is not #1 in every ranking no matter what until something tragic would happen otherwise everyone in the world knows who the king is in the crypto-asset blockchain era.China calls its rankings the Global Public Chain Technology Assessment, which is organized and implemented by the Qinqdao Blockchain Research Institute (CCID). It’s not totally clear why the Chinese government is ranking cryptocurrencies, but this is the fourth such report released by the government-funded institution.The goal of the rankings is to scientifically assess the development level of global public blockchain technology. Over the last four rankings, we’ve seen a particular emphasis on cryptocurrencies with decentralized governance systems and strong, active development teams. For further reading, take a look at how different governments around the worldview bitcoin, blockchain and cryptocurrencies.The rankings officially take three factors into account, including:Technology: The level of technology used in the blockchain project along with its upgrades, scaling solutions, and similar improvements.Applicability: How can the blockchain solve problems in everyday life? What kind of tangible results can the blockchain produce in the real world?Innovation: How innovative is the blockchain project? How unique is it compared to other projects? What kinds of uses are available for the cryptocurrency that we don’t see with other blockchain projects.On the newest rankings, EOS amassed a total of 158.6 points, a significant rise from the 145.6 points it collected earlier this summer. EOS scored particularly well in terms of technology with a 104.3 score as well as a 17.6 applicability score and a 36.7 innovation score.Ethereum, meanwhile, placed second with 139 points, including a technology score of 82, an applicability score of 27.4, and an innovation score of 29.6Chinese researchers clearly saw potential in bitcoin compared to where the bitcoin projectwas earlier this year. The last few rankings had placed bitcoin outside of the top 15. What changed? In these latest rankings, the world’s largest cryptocurrency scored a technology score of 46, an applicability score of 15.4, and an innovation score of 40.3.One of the most unusual things about these rankings – at least to bitcoin fans – was bitcoin’s low technology score. Bitcoin’s technology score was the lowest of all 20 cryptocurrencies in the rankings.Stellar, meanwhile, stayed in the sixth position with a total score of 106.9 points. Stellar’s XLM scored higher than bitcoin and Ripple (XRP) in terms of applicability.