Crypto Crash: Over Half of All Tokens Listed Since 2021 Have Failed Amid Market Turbulence

The cryptocurrency market has long been known for its volatility. But new data paints a stark picture of just how precarious the industry has become.

Since 2021, more than half of all cryptocurrencies listed on GeckoTerminal have failed, with a staggering 3.7 million tokens now considered defunct. These tokens are no longer trading and have effectively been abandoned by both developers and users alike.

Recent figures indicate that about 52.7% of nearly 7 million tokens listed since 2021 have failed. Even more alarming is the fact that a huge number of these failures took place in just a couple of months—during 2024 and the first few months of 2025—meaning that across the board, tokens have been declining in survivability.

The perhaps most eye-opening statistic is the total number of project failures notched in just the first quarter of 2025. In this three-month window alone, 1.8 million tokens bit the dust, accounting for almost half (49.7%) of all known dead projects to date. This rapid wave of collapses is unprecedented and has raised concerns across the crypto community about the long-term sustainability of the digital asset space. While many factors likely contributed to this mass extinction of tokens, analysts point to the market downturn that followed Trump’s inauguration in January 2025 as a significant catalyst.

The problem is compounded by regulatory ambiguity, especially in the U.S., where the new administration has sent mixed signals about digital asset policy. This uncertainty has made it harder than ever for truly innovative projects to secure funding and compliance. Meanwhile, the lack of clear standards seems to be providing just the right cover for low-effort and scam tokens to spread unchecked.

This problem is also tied to the explosive growth in the number of crypto projects launched in recent years. In 2021, GeckoTerminal listed just over 428,000 cryptocurrency projects. Fast forward to 2025, and that number has swollen to almost 7 million—a more than 15-fold increase in just four years.

A big part of this growth can be attributed to the launch of tools like @pumpdotfun, a platform that made it so easy for anyone to create and list a token that it became, well, kind of a joke. @pumpdotfun, for instance, lists 21 Walken tokens; there are Scribe tokens and Unscribe tokens and 24 other kinds of tokens that do 24 different things. Whatever effect that @pumpdotfun has had in demystifying the process of token creation has also had an effect in opening up the creation of tokens to absolutely anyone, with no discernible bar to entry.

It’s simple to get started, which appeals to developers who want to pull off pump-and-dump schemes. They set up operations, attract naive buyers, and before you know it, they’ve vanished with the investors’ money.

It’s very tempting for some people to bong this because the pump-and-dump schemes are so obvious.

The mass token failure reminds one of the technological innovation in the crypto space. It’s not a failure of initiative or creativity but of pure financial speculation and a lack of necessary due diligence. In too many cases, those who are calling the shots aren’t necessarily the sharpest minds in the room or even those who know what’s best for the room. Meanwhile, the projects that do make a positive difference remain the exception rather than the rule.

The crypto market is at a critical juncture. For it to mature and regain investor trust, the industry will need not only a technological advancement but also stronger safeguards, better educational resources for investors, and possibly more regulatory oversight.

Until now, the statistics tell their own story: since 2021, over half of all launched crypto projects are already defunct. And if things keep trending in the same direction, that number may only get worse.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

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