Cryptocurrency crash: Nearly Half of Created Cryptos Have Ceased Existence

CoinGecko's Cryptocurrency Crash: A Tale of Market Chaos

It's a blistering apocalypse out there in the world of cryptocurrencies, according to CoinGecko, the go-to service for rating digital currencies. A mind-boggling 52% of all cryptocurrencies born since 2021 are now toast, not to mention the nearly 7 million coins and tokens that have gone bust, leaving their projects in the dust.

Shudder. The devastation took a sharp turn in 2025's first quarter, when a whopping 1.8 million tokens caved in, making up a jaw-dropping 49.7% of all cryptocurrency deaths. Analysts are pointing fingers at the market turmoil that followed Donald Trump's triumphant return to the Oval Office in January 2025. The crypto market took a nosedive pretty much as soon as Trump's news broke, and it's been a bumpy ride ever since.

Cha-ching! The number of cryptocurrency projects has gone bananas since 2021, jumping a staggering 15 times from a mere 428,383 registrations to an almost unbelievable 7 million. The culprit? Pumf.fun, a platform that lowered the bar and made starting a cryptocurrency project a walk in the park. Boom! Suddenly, everybody and their grandma was launching a meme coin.

Never one to shirk responsibility, CoinGecko reported on 1.4 million project failures in 2024, accounting for an unsightly 37.7% of all casualties in the last five years. Despite this rather grim statistic, 2024 saw the most new cryptocurrency launches ever, with a staggering 3 million projects debuting in the market.

Turkey. In the period from 2021 through 2023, project failures accounted for a comparatively modest 12.6% of all crypto failures in the last five years. The real carnage unfolded in 2024 and 2025, where 88% of all failures occurred, with a jaw-dropping 1.8 million tokens sinking like the Titanic in just the first quarter of 2025. Talk about a twisted case of survive-of-the-fittest.

Get the Skinny on Cryptos: A Quick Look

Oksana Kuznetsova, Journalist

Now that you know about the marketwide cataclysm, there are some key factors worth exploring to explain why the crypto world has become such a basis for heartbreak.

What's Behind the High Failure Rate of Cryptocurrencies Since 2021, Especially in 2025?

Market Overcrowding and Speculation: The number of cryptocurrency projects skyrocketed from nearly 428,000 in 2021 to an eye-popping 7 million by 2025. The primary causes were easy-to-use platforms like pump.fun and the speculative frenzy that gripped the crypto world.
Lack of Utility, Liquidity, and Communication: Many tokens are considered "dead" when they've gone belly up in terms of functionality, liquidity, community engagement, and development. Watch out for red flags like infrequent coding commits, near-zero trading volumes, and 99%+ price drops from their all-time highs.
Financial and Market Rollicking: The crypto meltdown that occurred alongside Donald Trump's return to the presidency in January 2025 only exacerbated the market turbulence. This resulted in plummeting crypto asset prices, which fueled the collapse of several projects.
Regulatory Mayhem and Technical Greenhornism: The chaotic regulatory environment and technological challenges in the crypto ecosystem are responsible for the rocky roads many projects ultimately travel.
Heightened Failure Rates in 2024 and 2025: Although the years from 2021 to 2023 accounted for just 12.6% of all failures, the horrendous disintegration scene between 2024 and 2025 saw an alarming 88% of these failures. In fact, 1.8 million tokens went kaput in the first quarter of 2025 alone, eclipsing the total failures from 2024 and threatening to rivals the carnage of all of 2023[4].

The Explosive Growth of Cryptocurrency Projects

From around 428,383 in 2021, the total number of cryptocurrency projects skyrocketed to a staggering 7 million by 2025, thanks to simple-to-use platforms and the fever pitch that enveloped the crypto market[4].
This meteoric rise created a crowded, cutthroat climate that teemed with low-quality projects—often dubbed "ghost tokens"—that lacked real-world utility or a dedicated development team[2].

Key Data Points at a Glance

| Year | Project Failures | Notable Observations ||----------------|------------------|-----------------------------------------------|| 2021 | 2,584 | Initial phase with a relatively small number of failures || 2022 | 213,075 | Growing failures amid market turbulence || 2023 | 245,049 | Steady increase in failures || 2024 | 1,382,010 | Sharp spike in failures || 2025 (Q1) | 1,821,549 | Record-breaking failures amid a market meltdown |

More than half the cryptocurrencies born since 2021 have gone the way of the do-dos.
Approximately 53% of listed cryptocurrencies are now history, with the most failures occurring in 2024 and 2025[1][2][3][4][5].

And there you have it—the high picture of the high — and low — points in the cryptocurrency world since 2021. Better buckle up and hope you don't get tossed around on this wild crypto roller coaster. Godspeed!

Technology played a significant role in the explosion of cryptocurrency projects since 2021, as platforms like Pumf.fun made it easier for anyone to launch a coin or token. However, this surge also led to market overcrowding and an increase in low-quality projects.

Finance, on the other hand, could not support the numerous investments made in these new cryptocurrencies. The financial and market turmoil that followed Donald Trump's return to the presidency in 2025 contributed to the plummeting crypto asset prices, which ultimately caused numerous project failures.