Now, whether big exchanges or small ones, the frequency of listing and delisting coins is very high. Projects in the cryptocurrency space, like stocks, either advance or retreat; if they are not popular, they will fade away. Looking back at those once glorious anonymous coins, they are basically a mere shadow of their former selves, with nearly all having collapsed completely. The anonymous coins that emerged in 2014 reached their peak in 2017, but now only DASH barely hangs on some exchanges, with a market cap of only $240 million. As for XMR, although it still has a market cap, it has been delisted from all mainstream platforms. Coins like ZEC, ZCL, New Economy Coin, and XVG, even GRIN which exploded in popularity in 2019, are now all but forgotten, and the entire sector is in decline, with even the leaders unable to escape.
Looking at the recent trends, the once booming metaverse concept from the last bull market has also fallen silent, with even the leading AXS having dropped from grace.
In fact, most cryptocurrency assets ultimately cannot escape the fate of going to zero. Bitcoin has existed for 16 years since its inception, during which countless altcoins have emerged, but only a handful have survived. LTC, which was once touted as "digital gold and silver," is now gradually being marginalized. As time goes on, this sector is also losing its presence, and the halo of leading projects is becoming difficult to maintain.
Trading coins is similar to trading stocks; new themes and hot spots always attract more attention, and no one has long-term confidence in outdated projects. It is different from gold or art, which have cross-era consensus; many projects in the cryptocurrency space struggle to survive even two complete bull markets, and going to zero has become the norm. Looking at the entire history of cryptocurrency, the only ones with true long-term viability, aside from BTC and ETH, are almost nonexistent, and even the top market cap coins like SOL and BNB may not endure in the future. Ultimately, the only one that may truly remain over the long term is Bitcoin—it no longer relies on technological breakthroughs and does not need to prove itself; it is the only existence that will never go out of style.
As for other coins, holding them long-term does not hold much value.