since 2021, the toll of crypto deaths has reached 3.7 million, as research reveals; Post-Pump.fun, approximately half of all coins have been erased.
Rewritten Article:
Cryptocurrency's grim reality unveiled: More than a third of all tokens minted since 2021 have ceased to exist, with the number of failures peaking in 2024 and early 2025, according to a new study by GeckoTerminal, a crypto pricing platform.
The study revealed that a whopping 1.8 million tokens failed in the first quarter of 2025 alone, accounting for about half of all token failures since 2021. The carnage of 2024 was equally devastating, with nearly 1.4 million projects biting the dust. Together, these two years accounted for the majority of crypto market's token shutdowns.
"This alarming decline in token survival could be linked to broader market turmoil, particularly following Donald Trump's inauguration in January 2025, which coincided with a downturn in the crypto market," said GeckoTerminal.
Before the surge in failure rates, the number of project collapses was significantly lower. From 2021 to 2023, failures remained in the low six digits, accounting for just 12.6% of total token deaths.
Interestingly, the burgeoning of platforms like Pump.fun, which made token deployment a cinch, seems to be the catalyst behind this surge. With minimal coding expertise required, users could create tokens en masse. This mass production led to a deluge of low-effort projects, many of them memecoins, designed for short-term speculation rather than longevity.
The easy access to token creation tools attracted users seeking quick profits, resulting in over 3 million new tokens launched in 2024 alone. These newbies lacked clear use cases, community support, or development roadmaps, making them easy prey for collapse.
GeckoTerminal defines "dead tokens" as those which are no longer actively traded, noting that only tokens that had "one trade or more" before going defunct were considered. The data shows that as many as 60% of the coins listed on CoinMarketCap died in 2023.
In essence, the crypto market experienced a "boom-bust" cycle unique to 2024-2025, driven by simplified token minting and speculative mania. This data underscores how tool accessibility and speculative trading converged to destabilize the market in these years.
Enrichment Data:
The surge in token failures during 2024 and early 2025 can be attributed to several interrelated factors:
- Easier Token Creation: Platforms like Pump.fun (launched on Solana) democratized token deployment, enabling users to create tokens without coding expertise[1][4].
- Speculative Market Behavior: The accessibility of token creation tools drew in users seeking quick profits, leading to a flood of low-effort projects, particularly memecoins[1][4].
- Market Turbulence: GeckoTerminal noted broader market instability, including a downturn coinciding with Donald Trump’s January 2025 inauguration, which exacerbated selloffs and project failures[4].
- Historical Context: Prior to 2024, annual token failures were comparatively low, accounting for just 12.6% of total failures between 2021–2023[1][4].
- Metrics of Collapse:
- 2024: 1.4 million failures (37.7% of all failures since 2021)[1][4].
- Q1 2025: 1.8 million failures (49.7% of total failures)[1][3].
- Total failures: Over 3.7 million tokens since 2021, with 52.7% of listed cryptocurrencies now classified as "dead coins"[2][5].
- The study by GeckoTerminal reveals that over 1.8 million tokens failed in the first quarter of 2025 alone, contributing to half of all token failures since 2021.
- GeckoTerminal suggests that the surge in token failures could be associated with broader market turmoil, particularly following Donald Trump's inauguration in January 2025.
- The easy access to token creation tools, such as platforms like Pump.fun, seems to have been the catalyst behind the surge in token failures, leading to over 3 million new tokens launched in 2024 alone.
- More than a third of all tokens minted since 2021 have ceased to exist, with the number of failures peaking in 2024 and early 2025.
- By 2025, about 60% of coins listed on CoinMarketCap were classified as "dead tokens," according to GeckoTerminal.
- In the years 2024 and 2025, the crypto market experienced a unique "boom-bust" cycle driven by simplified token minting and speculative mania, as highlighted in the new study by GeckoTerminal.
