Due to a turbulent end to 2025, more than 50% of crypto projects launched this year have failed.

2025 will remain a dark year for the crypto ecosystem. More than 11.6 million cryptocurrencies disappeared in 2025 out of the 20.2 million launched this year, representing a failure rate of 50%. This is the “highest number of failures ever recorded in a single year,” according to the specialized website CoinGecko, which published a study on the subject. In total, 86.3% of crypto project failures launched since 2021 occurred in 2025.

“This sharp decline in token viability is largely attributed to systemic turbulence following the crypto crash of October 10. During this unprecedented event, $19 billion of leveraged positions were wiped out in 24 hours, marking the largest single-day deleveraging in cryptocurrency history,” it reads.

Since the 2021 bull market, which saw Bitcoin reach its first all-time high above $69,000, the number of crypto projects has exploded exponentially.

“The ease of launching tokens on dedicated platforms has led to a proliferation of humorous tokens and short-lived projects,” notes Coingecko.

But some cryptos have disappeared as quickly as they were created. In 2021, 2,584 cryptos died. The ecosystem saw hundreds of thousands more projects disappear in the following years: 213,075 in 2022, 245,049 in 2023, and 1,382,010 in 2024.

Cryptocurrencies lacking fundamentals therefore fail to last more than a year, unlike cryptos that prove their usefulness over time. Over the years, from Bitcoin since its creation in 2009 to all the cryptocurrencies specializing in privacy protection (Zcash, Monero, etc.), the cryptocurrency market has evolved. This is why the cryptocurrency market should be viewed as encompassing very different cryptocurrencies based on their utility or decentralized nature for investors.