More than half of token projects have "fallen"! CoinGecko: Witnessing the "Token Extinction Wave" in 2025

Behind the wealth creation myths in the crypto world, there are actually piles of bones. According to the latest investigation report from data platform CoinGecko, more than half of all cryptocurrencies ever issued have now become “dead coins,” and the vast majority of these “death cases” occurred in 2025. This study tracked tokens listed on GeckoTerminal (a decentralized trading tracking platform) from mid-2021 to the end of 2025. Data shows that during this period, approximately 20.2 million new tokens emerged in the market, of which 53.2% no longer have any active trading records. Even more shocking, in 2025 alone, as many as 1,160 tokens declared “dead,” accounting for 86.3% of all tokens that failed over the past five years. CoinGecko analyst Shaun Paul Lee pointed out, “Low-cost, low-investment” meme coins and experimental projects flooding the market are key factors driving the surge in token death rates. He stated that with the rise of tokens like Pump.fun, almost anyone can quickly issue tokens at a very low threshold. While this enhances market openness, it also leads to an overwhelming influx of speculative assets lacking technical foundation or development background and without long-term operational plans. Many of these tokens even disappear after just a few trades. The fourth quarter of 2025 is described as the “darkest hour” in the crypto world. In just three months, 770 token projects collapsed, accounting for 35% of all failed projects since 2021. This wave of large-scale failures coincided with the massive liquidation wave on October 10, when up to 19 billion USD worth of leveraged crypto positions were forcibly liquidated. Shaun Paul Lee described this as the largest “de-leveraging event” in crypto history, which not only severely damaged market confidence but also accelerated the demise of short-term speculative projects that were already lacking support. Looking at a longer timeline, the terrifying extent of market overheating becomes even clearer. In 2021, only 2,584 token projects declared failure; by 2024, the number skyrocketed to 1.3 million; and entering 2025, the situation spiraled out of control, directly triggering a wave of token deaths.