Crypto Market Sees 49.7% of 2021-2025 Failures in 2025's First Quarter

In the first quarter of 2025, the cryptocurrency market experienced a significant downturn with nearly 2 million crypto tokens collapsing. This represents 49.7% of all crypto project failures from 2021 to 2025, marking 2025 as the worst year for dead crypto projects. The analysis focused on concrete data, avoiding speculation about the exact causes, but it is hypothesized that market volatility under the current presidency is a contributing factor to this extreme failure rate.

The crypto industry has always been prone to failures. For instance, a few years ago, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) were extremely popular, but more than 95% of those assets are now considered dead. The latest report from CoinGecko indicates that 2025 has been particularly challenging. Compared to 2024, there have been fewer token launches and a significant increase in crypto project failures in the first quarter alone.

Despite the high number of failures, the overall number of active tokens continues to rise. Currently, there are over 14.65 million different tokens active, with a steady increase in the number of tokens tracked. One year ago, this number was only 2.7 million. The Solana blockchain's ecosystem has been a significant contributor to this growth, accounting for more than 60% of all tokens. However, this rapid increase in crypto projects has also led to a higher number of dead tokens, particularly in the volatile meme coin sector.

Moreover, the glut of project launches can dilute the overall market potential of meme coins, leading to the sinking of prominent projects due to quality fears and diminishing returns. CoinGecko's report also revealed that most crypto projects active since 2021 are now dead, with 52.7% of all such tokens having failed. The failure rate is increasing, and while new launches still outweigh collapses, the trend does not appear sustainable.

The report proposes a hypothesis for this behavior, suggesting that market turbulence and the rise in meme coin launches after the election are responsible for the high number of dead crypto projects. However, the study did not attempt to prove a cause; it merely analyzed the failures themselves. The data indicates that the meme coin industry, as currently defined, may not be sustainable at this rate.