Financial Services Giant Morningstar to Offer Ratings for Crypto Assets

Morningstar Credit Ratings is planning an evaluation system for debt securities issued as tokens on a blockchain to make the emerging asset class more credible for investors.

The new rating services could enable a migration of the $117 trillion debt securities industry, which is administered and governed by custodians and trustees, to a decentralized financial network, Michael Brawer, chief operating officer at Morningstar Credit Ratings, said in a Forbes interview on Tuesday.

Billions of dollars investment would enter the crypto space as the new rating services can make the new asset class more credible, Brawer said.

The rating arm of Morningstar will give publicly available ratings of one to five stars to the crypto assets, while launching a premium custom service that uses its internal modeling to help a client evaluate such investments.

According to the report, Morningstar's system for rating bonds will be place directly on the Ethereum blockchain and eventually on other blockchains, through technology called an oracle.

The public ratings could be launched later this year whereas the premium service would come out by the end of 2020.

"We're looking to see how we can also provide credit opinions, whether it's a credit rating or different types of credit data and credit analytics that accompany those debt instruments, and we're also looking to provide our services on a blockchain."

Morningstar realized the demand for rating services in the crypto space when it was approached by a range of investors who issue and securitize debt securities, including small business loans and home equities on blockchain.

While the company's rating services cover both government and corporate bonds, its blockchain products are still limited to structured debt instruments, the company said in the report.

Morningstar is still not sure if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will ask them to "Enhance" their blockchain methodology.