Data from GeckoTerminal shows that the failure rate of listed cryptocurrencies has skyrocketed to 52.7%, indicating an increasingly volatile and saturated market. In Q1 2025, more than 1.8 million tokens vanished from trading platforms—almost equal to all the failed projects in 2024, which totaled 1.38 million. This shutdown coincides with a broader cryptocurrency downturn and economic instability following President Donald Trump's return to power in January 2025.
The Surge in Token Creation: But So Is the Failure
The total number of cryptocurrency projects has surged in recent years, from 428,383 in 2021 to nearly 7 million in 2025. This rapid growth is largely due to pump.fun, a platform that makes it easy for users to create meme coins and tokens with little effort and minimal technical knowledge.
However, many of these tokens never made it past a few transactions. Most have little or no utility, and many tokens were abandoned or rudimentary shortly after launch. Of all cryptocurrency failures from 2021 to 2025, 88% occurred in just the past two years.
Quick statistics on cryptocurrency death rates (2021–2025)
2021: 2,584 failed projects
2022: 213,075
2023: 245,049
2024: 1,382,010
2025 (only counting Q1): 1,821,549
With nearly 1 in 2 tokens launched in 2025 dead, the data paints a warning picture for new investors and developers. The spike in these dead projects also reflects market saturation and excessive speculation in a space still seeking regulatory clarity and technological maturity.