Half of the cryptocurrencies tracked by data aggregator CoinGecko have failed, with 2025 proving to be a particularly disastrous year. What can we learn from this analysis?
CoinGecko claims that half of cryptocurrencies are already dead
The aggregator CoinGecko has analyzed cryptocurrencies launched since 2021. It has counted tokens that are no longer actively traded, grouped by the year of their last active trade. Only tokens that recorded at least one transaction before becoming inactive were taken into account. Furthermore, regarding Pump.fun tokens, only those that left the launchpad and were launched on a DEX were included in the study.
The result is clear: more than half of the tokens launched since 2021 are dead, or 13.4 million of them. Furthermore, 2025 was a dark year: it saw the failure of 11.6 million tokens, or 86.7% of failures:
Why was 2025 such a bad year?
The CoinGecko report is consistent with a recent report by Memento Research, which indicates that the vast majority of cryptocurrencies launched in 2025 saw their prices collapse. According to the data aggregator, the reasons are related to volatility throughout the year:
This sharp decline in token survival could be linked to broader market turbulence throughout the year, which particularly affected the memecoin sector. […] The fourth quarter of 2025 alone saw the collapse of 7.7 million tokens, representing 34.9% of all project failures recorded.
The report indicates that the failures followed the “liquidation cascade” that took place on October 10, 2025. On that day, $19 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated in 24 hours.
These failures are also part of a wave of new token creation. In 2025, more than 20 million tokens were listed on CoinGecko… Compared to only 428,000 in 2021. This shows the considerable enthusiasm that drove the sector to record prices in 2025, with memecoins exploding in number.
It is also an indication that the overheating has stopped, and that we may have entered a prolonged phase of consolidation. 2026 could therefore be the year of moderation for memecoins.
