Over 50% of Cryptocurrencies Fail: 11.6 Million Projects Collapse in 2025
A CoinGecko report reveals a staggering attrition rate in the cryptocurrency sector, with more than half of all digital tokens ever created now inactive. Of the 20.2 million tokens tracked on GeckoTerminal, 10 million have vanished—a 53.2% failure rate.
The year 2025 proved catastrophic, accounting for 11.6 million failed projects—86.3% of all closures between 2021-2025. Market volatility and extreme events disproportionately impacted meme coins and smaller tokens. The collapse accelerated after October 10, 2025's historic $19 billion liquidation cascade, the largest single-day deleveraging in crypto history.
Paradoxically, new token creation continues unabated. From 428,383 projects in 2021, the ecosystem exploded to 20.2 million by 2025. "The market is Darwinian," observes one analyst. "For every Bitcoin or ethereum that survives, thousands of speculative tokens get washed away."
