Every two months China's Center for Information and Industry Development releases its Global Public Blockchain Technology Assessment Index. This assessment focuses on the underlying technology powering the blockchains. The assessment is weighted as follows:

• Technology = 65%
• Application = 20%
• Creativity   = 15% 

Technology is judged based on functionality, performance, security and the degree of decentralization.

Applicability is judged for wallet application, development support and application realization (end product).

Creativity has to do with the contributors, frequency of updates and the impact of specific codebase.

EOS (1st)

EOS still maintains the top spot as it has since the inception of this assessment. It ranks highest in basic-tech than any other blockchain due to its high quality performances such as fast transaction speeds and zero transaction fees. It is also highly secure and very much decentralized.

It has multiple secure wallet applications provided by independent contributors. The blockchain enjoys a wide development support from many members of its community including from Block.one, the company that built the blockchain and raised $4 Billion from sale of the EOS tokens. It does score a bit lower on applicability and this I would attribute to lower adoption and platform support compared to some of its counterparts. 

EOS has some of the most creative contributors in the blockchain space who've come up with some of the most innovative solutions and applications. The code is frequently updated and has recently released its 1.85 version upgrade with 2.0 set to release later this year.

Tron (2nd)

A move that has shocked many in the space, including myself, is Tron overtaking Ethereum for second place. Tron has been making a lot of noise in recent months and coupled that with very strategic acquisitions and partnerships. The latest of which is the integration of Tron Network with Samsung Blockchain Keystore announced just yesterday (29 Oct). 

No doubt this will give Tron massive applicability points in the next assessment index in two months time. A billion users will have access to Tron's blockchain and will also be able to build Tron dApps right on their mobile phones. How's that for development support?! It is worth noting that Tron already has the highest Applicability points than any other blockchain since acquiring BitTorrent. This Samsung move may take it over the top for first place. 

I'm not very familiar with Tron's tech let alone its creative side. Looking at the index it does score Tron much lower than EOS and Ethereum on creativity. However, I wouldn't put it past Tron to comeback strong on that front as it did everything else.

Ethereum (3rd)

I know a lot of people are disappointed to see Ethereum drop down to third place. The community hasn't been at ease in the past couple of months regarding the project's progress on scalability. Excitement and a bit of anxiety is making the rounds in the Ethereum community as the long awaited Istanbul mainnet activation is set to take place early December which will result in yet another hard-fork.

This coming upgrade promises a faster, secure, more scalable and decentralized blockchain. One hoped for outcome with this upgrade is that it will lower the effectiveness of ASIC cards in hashing blockchain transactions thus leveling the playing field for miners. It would also make it possible for the average Ethereum user to effectively compete in mining on the network therefore further strengthening the blockchain by being more decentralized.

Regardless of its position on this index, Ethereum is still the second largest blockchain in the world. It has the most dApps than any other blockchain and enjoys huge support from all kinds of blockchain enthusiasts. If there's any community capable of quickly turning things around in terms of development it is the Ethereum developer community. The upcoming Istanbul upgrade will be a good indicator of where the project currently stands but more importantly, where it is headed.

Worthy Mentions

Nuls - Coming in 4th place is the Nuls blockchain. Nuls is an open-source project that provides quick, cost-effective and easy to implement blockchain solutions for developers. It makes it easy for businesses to adopt blockchain technology even with minimal blockchain experience. It has made great strides in making the top 5 from its 21st position just a year ago.

Bitcoin - Big daddy hasn't moved a muscle and still holds its position in 11th place. Over the past couple of months Bitcoin has been constantly moving between 10th-12th place. It's not surprising as the Bitcoin community hasn't been keen on making any major adjustments to its code. In its defense Bitcoin is still the most secure network and hasn't been hacked since its inception over ten years ago. 

To end this article I would like to give props to Tron for its great run to one of the top spots. Just last year in August's index release Tron wasn't even mentioned. How long will EOS be able to maintain its top positions amidst such tough competition? Will Ethereum be able to reclaim second position or even claim the top spot as a result of this upgrade? Only time will tell.

What do you think of this assessment index? Is it fair or a little bit biased? I would love to hear your thoughts on this in the comment section below.

Thank you reading!