A new report from CoinGecko indicates that 2025 is the worst year for dead crypto projects, with 1.8 million tokens collapsing in just the first quarter. This accounts for 49.7% of the total failures of crypto projects from 2021 to 2025.
CoinGecko's analysis focuses on specific data, without aiming to prove culprits. However, they assume that market volatility during the Trump presidency is the reason for this extremely high failure rate.
Why are many tokens gradually disappearing?
The crypto industry is no stranger to failures. For example, a few years ago, Non-Fungible Tokens were very popular, but over 95% of those assets have died.
CoinGecko's latest report shows that 2025 is a special year in this aspect. Compared to 2024, fewer tokens have been launched and more crypto projects have failed in just the first quarter.
Dead Crypto Projects by Year. Source: CoinGeckoData from CoinMarketCap shows that there are currently over 14.65 million different tokens in operation, and this number is steadily increasing.
A year ago, the website was tracking only 2.7 million. The largest contribution to this growth is Solana meme coins, as this blockchain ecosystem now accounts for over 60% of the total tokens.
Solana Meme Coins Rising. Source: CoinMarketCapHowever, the rapid increase in crypto projects also leads to more dead tokens. The meme coin industry is particularly volatile, and the industry has faced collapse on many previous occasions.
Moreover, the explosion of new projects can dilute the market potential of meme coins, sinking prominent projects due to concerns about quality and diminishing returns.
CoinGecko also reveals another worrying fact: according to their estimates, most crypto projects operating since 2021 are now dead. They claim that 52.7% of those tokens have failed, and the failure rate is increasing.
New projects are still more numerous than collapsed ones, but this trend does not seem sustainable.
The report offers a clear hypothesis for this behavior. CoinGecko believes that Trump's tariff threats and economic recession concerns are likely the reasons behind these dead crypto projects. Meme coin launches surged after his election, and market volatility is killing them.
Clearly, CoinGecko's study does not attempt to prove the cause; they only analyze the failures. Complex factors may be creating all these dead crypto projects.
However, they have identified trends, and the specific data is convincing in itself. The meme coin industry, as it currently stands, may not survive long at this rate.
