Half of Cryptocurrency Tokens Fizzle Out: Insights from the Specters of 2025
Cryptocurrency Crash:
The scene is bleak for crypto, with over half of the digital coins launched since 2021 already buried. The situation gets grimmer in 2025, as the percentage of failed tokens from this year has reached the terrifying level seen in the entirety of 2024, in just the first five months!
Speaking to BeInCrypto, representatives from Binance and Dune Analytics sounded the alarm - we need more viable projects, solid tokenomics, and robust communities if we want to escape this graveyard of defunct digital cash.
Ghost Tokens Galore
A jaw-dropping report by CoinGecko revealed that over 7 million cryptocurrencies listed on GeckoTerminal since 2021 have met their unfortunate end. So, what's the criteria for declaring a crypto coin six feet under?
A coin is labeled 'dead' when it loses all utility, liquidity, and community engagement, as indicated by near-zero trading volume, abandoned development, and a price drop of 99% or more from its all-time high. These ghosts in the crypto machine often disappear without a trace - social media accounts go dormant, and domains expire.
A little over half of all listed cryptocurrencies have kicked the bucket, and most of the burials took place in 2024 and 2025. The staggering 1.82 million tokens put to rest in 2025 far outpaced the 1.38 million fatalities recorded in 2024, with more than half of 2025 still to come.
And the crypto graveyard is far from filled. As we move forward, the number of collapses in the current year will likely keep growing.
Why Are So Many Crypto Projects Busts?
Experts point to a host of factors contributing to the high failure rate, affectionately referred to as 'ghost coins.'
CoinGecko ties the carnage to broader macroeconomic conditions, such as tariffs and recession fears, and notices a surge in meme coin launches after certain elections, which it believes likely contributes to their decline. But it's not all on the economic downturn.
"A dearth of product-market fit, dangerous short-term speculation, abandonment by developers (rug pulls), questionable intentions, weak user traction, and technical hurdles all contribute to project failure," a Binance spokesperson explained to BeInCrypto.
Additionally, the rapid growth in ghost tokens is tied to the mass launch of projects since 2024.
Life and Death Ratio
2024 was memorable as the advent of meme coins, particularly after the launch of Pump.fun, a Solana platform making it cheap and easy for anyone to launch a token.
An estimated 3 million new tokens were listed on CoinGecko in 2024. Half of these projects croaked, but the other half survived. However, 2025 offers a more precarious picture.
While new token launches remain high, the number of failures is nearly equivalent, with launches only marginally exceeding deaths by a mere thousand.
"Ecosystems with low barriers to token creation see the highest number of ghost coins," Binance's spokesperson noted. Solana's surge in meme coin launches (via token launchpads like Pump.fun) drove a deluge of new tokens, many of which experienced a steep decline in user traction and daily activity once the initial hype wore off.
The meme market, in particular, has taken a significant blow.
As of March 5, the meme coin market capitalization shrank sharply to $54 billion, marking a 56.8% plunge from its peak of $125 billion on December 5, 2024. This downturn was accompanied by a substantial decrease in trading activity, with volumes plummeting by 26.2% in the preceding month alone.
Certain token categories have been hit harder than others.
Music and Video Tokens Decimated
A 2024 BitKE report put the spotlight on music and video tokens, which reached a staggering 75% failure rate. Niche-focused crypto ventures often struggle to establish long-term viability, as these niches face adoption and utility gaps.
For example, music tokens compete with giants like Spotify and YouTube, while 'listen-to-earn' models often lack demand. "As more mainstream celebrities jump into the space without understanding blockchain technology, tokens become the new cash-grab business," Liu, the Content Manager at Dune Analytics, explained.
Legal and technical hurdles, such as music licensing and the significant resources needed for video delivery, further complicated the scaling of decentralized alternatives. Many projects struggled to sustain themselves without substantial user adoption or strong network effects.
In essence, a good concept alone isn't enough to succeed in the crypto world - projects must contend with entrenched Web2 platforms, navigate complex industry challenges, and deliver real-world utility if they want to survive the hostile crypto landscape.
Despite the disheartening number of failed tokens, this situation presents valuable lessons for both project creators and investors.
Lessons From Gone-Ghost Coins
The rising number of ghost coins serves as a vital reminder that warning signs often precede their demise, so thorough research, validation of underlying principles, and maintaining a critical perspective are crucial, especially when investment gains seem too good to be true. Risk management and sustainable long-term factors should take priority over short-term speculative trading.
Binance stressed the importance of "Do Your Own Research" (DYOR) when evaluating crypto projects. "Reviewing the whitepaper, assessing whether the project solves a real problem, verifying the team's credibility, examining tokenomics and supply distribution, and checking community and development activity" helps avoid ghost coins and scams. So, before you dance with the devil, remember - DYOR is the key to navigating the crypto jungle safely.
- The massive failure of cryptocurrencies is explicitly illustrated by the fact that over 7 million cryptocurrencies listed on GeckoTerminal since 2021 have failed, falling into the same crypto graveyard.
- These failed tokens are labeled 'dead' when they lose all utility, liquidity, and community engagement, as shown by near-zero trading volume, abandoned development, and a price drop of 99% or more from their all-time high.
- The high failure rate of cryptocurrency projects can be attributed to factors such as a lack of product-market fit, short-term speculation, abandonment by developers (rug pulls), questionable intentions, weak user traction, and technical hurdles.
- A dearth of robust communities, solid tokenomics, and viable projects is identified as crucial for escaping the graveyard of defunct digital cash, as stated by representatives from Binance and Dune Analytics.
- In 2025, the percentage of failed tokens from this year has reached the terrifying level seen in the entirety of 2024, highlighting the precarious state of the cryptocurrency market.
- Life and death ratios reveal that while new token launches remain high, the number of failures is nearly equivalent, with launches only marginally exceeding deaths by a mere thousand.
- The meme coin market, in particular, has taken a significant blow, with the meme coin market capitalization shrinking sharply to $54 billion, marking a 56.8% plunge from its peak in 2024.
- Certain token categories have been hit harder than others, with music and video tokens reaching a staggering 75% failure rate, as highlighted by a 2024 BitKE report.
- Despite the disheartening number of failed tokens, this situation presents valuable lessons for both project creators and investors, emphasizing the need for thorough research, validation of underlying principles, and maintaining a critical perspective.
- Risk management and sustainable long-term factors should take priority over short-term speculative trading, and the importance of "Do Your Own Research" (DYOR) is underscored when evaluating crypto projects.
