The cryptocurrency market witnessed a historic wave of project failures in 2025, with a staggering 11.6 million tokens ceasing active trading, according to a report from CoinGecko research analyst Shaun Paul Lee. This figure represents the highest number of failures recorded in a single year and contributed to a total of over 13.4 million failed crypto projects between 2021 and 2025.
The data reveals a dramatic acceleration in failures, from just 2,584 in 2021 to over 1.3 million in 2024, before exploding last year. The fourth quarter of 2025 was particularly brutal, accounting for 7.7 million of the year's total failures on the GeckoTerminal platform. Lee identified the October 10 market crash, which saw over $19 billion in crypto leverage liquidated in a single day, as a key catalyst for the collapse. "This sharp decline in token survivability may be linked to the broader market turbulence throughout the year, which particularly affected the memecoin sector," he stated.
The report highlights that memecoins were among the hardest-hit asset classes. The ease of token creation, driven by platforms like the Solana-based launchpad pump.fun launched in January 2024, flooded the market with low-effort projects. GeckoTerminal listings surged from 3 million tokens at the end of 2024 to 20 million by the end of 2025, setting the stage for a massive failure rate as market conditions soured.
Despite the bleak annual data, memecoins have shown signs of life entering 2026. According to CoinMarketCap, the sector's total market capitalization surged from $38 billion on December 29 to $47.7 billion by January 5, before cooling to around $43.7 billion. Transaction volumes also spiked 300% during that period, from $2.17 billion to $8.7 billion, indicating continued speculative interest even amidst the high failure rate.
