Most people who own crypto own between one and five things, and they bought each of them for a reason that made sense at the time. Very few of those people could tell you what grade their holdings would get from anyone who was not also selling them.

So here are eight of the coins that general investors most often hold, with CryptoGrade's own letter grade on each one as read from our research record on the morning of September 28, 2026. Read down the list. If something you own is on it, that is your answer. If it is not, the last section gets you to yours in about two minutes.

Our AI researches tens of thousands of crypto assets and applies our published framework to the ones we cover. For each asset that produces a score built from six weighted dimensions: what the token is economically, how much the network is really used, how secure and decentralized it is, how strong its ecosystem is, what it costs next to comparable assets, and how its market is structured.

Sitting on top of that score is a letter. A is our top grade, then B, then C.

F is different in kind. Our framework does not only score, it also screens, and an asset that fails one of our pass or fail screens is graded F whatever its score says. So a low score is not the only road into an F. Our record does not say which road a given asset took, and we do not guess. The weights and the screens are published in full on our framework page.

The letter is the summary of all of it. That is what this issue is: eight letters, in alphabetical order, so that nothing in the ordering is doing any arguing.

Avalanche (AVAX). Our grade: C / Speculative. A proof-of-stake smart-contract blockchain built for fast, relatively low-cost transactions, with subnet infrastructure that lets application-specific networks run alongside the main platform. AVAX is the native token and supports staking under a capped-supply model. Our published one-line research view: "Avalanche remains a mid-quality, actively maintained L1 with moderate usage and no clear valuation edge"

Chainlink (LINK). Our grade: B / Sound. A decentralized oracle network that feeds outside information into blockchain applications, so that smart contracts can use data a blockchain cannot obtain on its own. LINK pays the node operators who supply that data and backs their staked collateral. Our published one-line research view: "Chainlink remains a leading oracle network with strong developer momentum and a still-moderate dilution overhang"

Cosmos Hub (ATOM). Our grade: C / Speculative. A proof-of-stake blockchain at the center of a wider network of independently run, interoperable chains, designed so that assets and applications can move between them without an intermediary. ATOM pays fees, can be staked, and carries governance votes. Our published one-line research view: "Cosmos Hub remains established but shows weak Hub-level usage and only moderate development support."

Dogecoin (DOGE). Our grade: F / Failed. Launched in 2013 as a parody of crypto culture and run by volunteers and a non-profit foundation rather than a company, it works as a peer-to-peer payment and tipping network. Unlike Bitcoin it has no supply cap: new coins keep entering circulation through its issuance process. Our published one-line research view: "Dogecoin remains a liquid, long-lived meme-transfer asset with weak value accrual and limited ecosystem depth"

Hedera (HBAR). Our grade: C / Speculative. A public network built for applications that need near-real-time consensus, giving them an ordered, timestamped, verifiable record of submitted messages. It is governed by a council whose members include Google, IBM and Boeing, and HBAR pays network fees and supports staking. Our published one-line research view: "Hedera shows active development but weak on-chain economic usage and only modest token value capture."

Litecoin (LTC). Our grade: B / Sound. One of the longest-running proof-of-work payment networks, designed for fast, low-cost transfers, with a maximum supply of 84 million coins and periodic halvings that cut new issuance. It also offers optional transaction privacy through MimbleWimble Extension Blocks. Our published one-line research view: "Litecoin remains a durable monetary asset, but usage and moat signals are still modest"

Shiba Inu (SHIB). Our grade: F / Failed. A community-led ecosystem that began as a meme token on Ethereum and now includes a decentralized exchange, a Layer 2 network called Shibarium, and two further tokens carrying scarcity and governance roles. Our published one-line research view: "Large-cap meme asset with weak value accrual and limited evidence of productive usage"

Stellar (XLM). Our grade: C / Speculative. An open-source network for moving value between currencies and other assets quickly and at low cost, connecting people, payment systems and financial institutions through anchors that hold deposits and issue matching ledger credits. XLM pays small transaction charges and supports minimum account balances. Our published one-line research view: "Stellar remains a durable payments network, but value capture and relative valuation are only moderate on the supplied evidence."

The letters are not in the order name recognition would put them. Some of the most widely recognized names on this list carry our lowest grade, and the payment network here that has been running longest carries one of our highest. Familiarity is not one of the six things we measure.

A B is not an endorsement and a C is not a warning. Read the one-line views again. Every single one of them contains a qualification. That is what our research looks like when it is honest: an asset can be durable and still not be cheap, active in development and still weak in usage.

An F is a screen outcome, not a verdict on how much you paid. It says an asset failed a pass or fail test in our framework. It does not say the asset scored at the bottom of our record, and we do not publish which screen was the one.

Everything above is a list of other people's coins. The useful version is the one you look up yourself.

Step one, find yours. Look up any asset we cover and read its grade. It takes about two minutes. There is a decent chance it is not the letter you would have guessed, because our letters do not track price and they do not track how often you hear a name.

Step two, the part nearly everybody skips. A grade that changes on a Tuesday morning is only useful to you if you find out on Tuesday. A free CryptoGrade account lets you turn on Alerts for a specific asset and be told when that asset's grade changes, so you are not relying on remembering to check.

A free account also changes how much of the record you can see. Logged out, you see the top ten assets by our score. With a free account you see the top two hundred by our own score, which is where most of the letters that move actually move.

And if you want to learn why a particular asset's score moved, log in to your free CryptoGrade account to learn more.

All grades and tier names above are CryptoGrade's own published readings from our research record on the morning of September 28, 2026, and they change.

CryptoGrade publishes investment research, asset grades, scores and ratings. Nothing here is individualized investment advice, and no one at CryptoGrade is a registered investment adviser or broker-dealer. Invest wisely with AI-powered crypto scores and guidance.