Dead digital currencies of 2023; Why do digital currencies disappear?
Data from a recent CoinGecko report shows that around 14,000 of all cryptocurrencies issued since 2014 have died. This means that more than 50% of the 24,000 coins and tokens listed on the website during this time have disappeared.
To Report Coin Giko, most of these digital currencies are related to projects that were launched during the bull market of 2020 to 2021.
During this period, more than 11,000 cryptocurrencies were listed on CoinGecko, about 70% of which have since disappeared. These 7,530 dead projects account for 53.6% of all dead projects on Coin Giko.
The simplicity of creating a supply and token and the increasing popularity of memecoins is the most important reason for the high number of dead digital currencies in the period 2020 to 2021. Also, many of these memecoins were launched without a product, causing most of them to be abandoned after a short period of time.
Of the total cryptocurrencies that were launched in 2021, 5,724 have disappeared by January 2024 (D1402). More than 70% of cryptocurrencies listed on CoinGecko have disappeared in 2021, making it the worst year to launch projects.
In 2022, 3,520 digital currencies have disappeared, which is equivalent to about 60% of the dead currencies listed on CoinGecko this year. However, in 2023 we have seen the disappearance of 289 coins and tokens listed on this website. In other words, less than 10% of the more than 4,000 digital currencies that were launched over the past year have disappeared.
Number of dead cryptocurrencies per year
In the table below, you can see the number of failed projects based on each year:
| Launch year | Number of dead cryptocurrencies |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 37 |
| 2015 | 27 |
| 2016 | 32 |
| 2017 | 346 |
| 2018 | 1,104 |
| 2019 | 1,154 |
| 2020 | 1,806 |
| 2021 | 5,724 |
| 2022 | 3,520 |
| 2023 | 289 |
What cryptocurrencies are considered dead?
This report examines the total number of coins and tokens that were once listed on CoinGecko and are now inactive (failed or dead), categorized by year of listing from 2014 to 2023.
Cryptocurrencies may be disabled or removed from the CoinGecko list based on the following conditions:
- Digital currencies that have not had any trading activity in the last 30 days
- Projects classified as scams or rogue money based on news or direct reports from verifiable sources to CoinGecko
- Projects request to be deactivated; Such as when the team disbands, the brand changes, the project shuts down, or the tokens undergo a major overhaul, they are classified as dead or illiquid tokens according to CoinGecko’s standards.