A striking revelation has emerged in the cryptocurrency market. Since 2021, approximately 52.7% of the 7 million altcoins listed have ceased trading. This percentage highlights that more than half of these altcoin projects have failed. Notably, the years 2024 and 2025 marked the peak period for coin failures.
2025: The Peak Year for Altcoin Failures
According to GeckoTerminal data, in just the first quarter of 2025, 1,821,549 altcoin projects ceased operations. This figure constitutes 49.7% of all failed projects recorded since 2021. Essentially, this year alone saw nearly as many altcoin projects disappear as in the previous four years combined.
This massive collapse is evaluated in connection with market instability and political changes. Market fluctuations began with Donald Trump taking office as U.S. president in January. There was a notable drop in investor confidence during this period, and low-quality projects were hit hard.
Such a large-scale coin death had never been seen in previous years. In 2024, 1.3 million coin projects failed, accounting for 37.7% of total collapses. Failures were much more limited in 2023 and the years before.
In 2021, approximately 428,000 coins were listed on CoinGecko, and by 2025, the total number of projects approached 7 million. This rapid growth brought with it a lack of control, speculation, and an influx of low-quality projects into the market. Many projects that set out with the dream of significant gains ceased trading within days, resulting in losses for investors.
Coin Explosion Triggered by Pump.fun Increases Deaths
GeckoTerminal identified a noteworthy platform behind the surge in projects in 2024: pump.fun. This platform allowed users to easily create coins, leading to the launch of hundreds of thousands of “memecoin“-like low-effort altcoin projects. Most of the new coins either disappeared without creating any trading volume or became inactive shortly thereafter.
According to GeckoTerminal’s methodology, only coins that had been traded at least once were included in the analysis. Additionally, coins created through pump.fun and started trading in the market were included in the data. Despite this filter, the high numbers reveal just how uncontrolled the industry’s growth has been.
