Over 3.7 Million Crypto Tokens Have Failed Since 2021, With a Sharp Rise Following Pump.fun’s Launch

In a market known for its volatility and rapid innovation, the past two years have exposed a darker trend: mass token failure. Between 2024 and early 2025, a staggering number of cryptocurrency tokens have disappeared. According to recent research, over 1.8 million tokens failed in Q1 of 2025 alone, representing nearly 50% of all token failures from 2021 to 2025. The spike in project failure is significant, hinting at deeper issues in the crypto ecosystem. Let’s know the detailed analysis of the crypto coins’ vanishing history

2024 and 2025: The Years of Massive Token Failures

In 2024, around 1.4 million crypto projects failed, and that was just the beginning. The first quarter of 2025 saw another blow with 1.8 million token shutdowns. These two years alone make up the majority of crypto market tokens that went under. Many experts link this trend to market uncertainty following Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, which was followed by a sudden downturn in the crypto space. The project failure rate soared, catching many by surprise. 

Graph 1- Dead Tokens from 2021 to 2025, published on Coingecko, April 30, 2025.

Pump.fun Memecoin Craze and Its Surprising Impact

Much of the explosion in token creation is being attributed to a platform called Pump.fun, launched in 2024. This platform made it extremely easy for anyone to launch their token, leading to an overwhelming number of meme coins and experimental projects. While innovation is great, the ease of use led to a flood of low-effort tokens, most of which had no long-term vision. As a result, many of these quickly became part of the cryptocurrency tokens’ failure statistics. The Pump.fun token boom has been both a blessing and a curse to the crypto ecosystem.

The Surging Number of Tokens: From 2021 to 2025

Back in 2021, only about 428,000 new crypto tokens were listed on aggregator platforms. Fast forward to 2025, and that number has skyrocketed to nearly seven million. This shows how easy it has become to launch new crypto market tokens. While growth sounds exciting, this rise also means that a large portion of these tokens is not sustainable. Without strong use cases or communities behind them, these tokens are more likely to fail. 

What Makes a Token “Dead” in the Crypto Space?

According to GeckoTerminal, a cryptocurrency token is considered dead if it is no longer being traded. Additionally, they only count those that had at least one trade before dying. This means the statistics don’t inflate test tokens or inactive launches. Instead, they represent real projects that once had some form of life. This adds weight to the issue and shows that token death is a growing concern. It’s not just abandoned ideas, it’s real investors, real money, and real disappointments in the crypto market tokens.

Why the Boom in Creation Led to a Bust in Survival

One clear connection researchers made is how the simplicity of launching tokens through platforms like Pump.fun memecoin tools resulted in a major saturation of the market. Most of these new tokens had no long-term plan or real purpose. Instead, they were created for quick profits or fun. But when everyone is launching, standing out becomes hard. Eventually, liquidity dries up, and the tokens die. This explains why the number of token deaths has been much higher post-2023. Creating cryptocurrency tokens has become easier, but that doesn’t mean they’ll succeed.

Moving Forward: Lessons for Developers and Investors

For anyone entering the crypto space, whether to invest or to launch projects, it’s important to study this wave of failures. Just because it’s easy to create cryptocurrency tokens doesn’t mean they’ll last. Quality, community trust, real utility, and transparency matter more than ever. The crypto space is evolving rapidly, and trends like the Pump.fun memecoin surge shows us that even fun ideas can have serious consequences. The hope is that future projects focus more on value creation and less on hype.