Cryptocurrency

The Entire Blockchain Ecosystem in One Visualization

Published

7 years ago

May 30, 2016

Jeff Desjardins

The Blockchain Ecosystem: View the full-size infographic

The Entire Blockchain Ecosystem in One Visualization

View the full-size version.

The size of the bitcoin market may still be microscopic when contrasted with other global markets, but that hasn’t stopped the eight-year-old cryptocurrency, as well as the surrounding blockchain ecosystem, from evolving.

As Bitcoin Magazine points out in its article accompanying this infographic:

As Bitcoin approaches its eighth birthday, we see things changing. It is turning into that curious, wide-eyed technology with ideas as widespread as any normal eight-year-old. Cross-border payments, machine-to-machine transactions, smart contracts, microtransactions and stock settlements all have been discussed and developed. Nothing is off limits; no question goes unasked.

The blockchain, which is the technological infrastructure behind how Bitcoin transactions work, is now much more heralded in many circles than the original cryptocurrency itself. That’s because it is now clear how the blockchain can be further applied to many other disciplines, including payments, trading assets digitally, identity management, data verification, and smart contracts.

Venture capital has continued to pour into the sector to untap this potential.

In 2015 alone, companies focused on Bitcoin or the blockchain raised over $1 billion. Meanwhile, 2016 has already seen notable investments in companies like Augur, a decentralized prediction market, or Ethereum, a smart contract and publishing platform. As of today, than 65 banks and financial institutions have made investments in the industry in a wide range of businesses and ideas.

We pointed out in last week’s chart that mentions of “Bitcoin” have decreased by 61% in Y Combinator applications, which does raise a potential concern for the development of future Bitcoin and blockchain technology. Less startups focusing on the applications of the blockchain could be a sign of a slowdown, but it could also be temporary. Any significant breakthrough, like the anticipated success of OpenBazaar, could tip the scales back in favor again.

Even despite this potential setback, Bitcoin has always done well in the face of adversity. It was the top performing currency of 2015, and recently the bitcoin price has soared to 21-month highs after a recent four-day rally of 21%.

Based on this, it would seem that the blockchain ecosystem, including Bitcoin, is still alive and well.

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Technology

Charting the Number of Failed Crypto Coins, by Year (2013-2022)

We visualize over 2,000 crypto failures by year of death, and year of project origin. See how and why crypto projects die in these charts.

Creator Program

Published

3 weeks ago

May 9, 2023

Aran Ali

The Number of Failed Crypto Coins, by Year (2013-2022)

Ever since the first major crypto boom in 2011, tens of thousands of cryptocurrency coins have been released to market.

And while some cryptocurrencies performed well, others have ceased to trade or have ended up as failed or abandoned projects.

These graphics from CoinKickoff break down the number of failed crypto coins by the year they died, and the year they started. The data covers a decade of coin busts from 2013 through 2022.

Methodology

What is the marker of a “dead” crypto coin?

This analysis reviewed data from failed crypto coins listed on Coinopsy and cross-referenced against CoinMarketCap to verify previous market activity. The reason for each coin death was also tabulated, including:

Failed Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs)
Abandonment with less than $1,000 in trade volume over a three-month period
Scams or coins that were meant as a joke

Dead Crypto Coins from 2013 to 2022

While many familiar crypto coins—Litecoin, Dogecoin, and Ethereum—are still on the market today, there were at least 2,383 crypto coins that bit the dust between 2013 and 2022.

Here’s a breakdown of how many crypto coins died each year by reason:

Dead Coins by Year	Abandoned / No Volume	Scams / Other Issues	ICO Failed / Short-Lived	Joke / No purpose
2013	9	0	0	0
2014	277	20	5	2
2015	223	27	1	2
2016	152	22	4	5
2017	169	71	46	6
2018	390	237	112	12
2019	203	73	51	2
2020	77	19	9	0
2021	34	36	2	2
2022	50	23	8	2
Total	1,584	528	238	33

Abandoned coins with flatlining trading volume accounted for 1,584 or 66.5% of analyzed crypto failures over the last decade. Comparatively, 22% ended up being scam coins, and 10% failed to launch after an ICO.

As for individual years, 2018 saw the largest total of annual casualties in the crypto market, with 751 dead crypto coins. More than half of them were abandoned by investors, but 237 coins were revealed as scams or embroiled in other controversies, such as BitConnect which turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.

Why was 2018 such a big year for crypto failures?

This is largely because the year prior saw Bitcoin prices climb above $1,000 for the first time with an eventual peak near $19,000. As a result, speculation ran hot, new crypto issuances boomed, and many investors and firms got bullish on the market for the first time.

How Many Newly Launched Coins Died?

Of the hundreds of coins that launched in 2017, more than half were considered defunct by the end of 2022.

proportion of launched crypto coins each year that have died

Indeed, a lot of earlier-launched coins have since died. The majority of coins launched between 2013 and 2017 have already become “dead coins” by the end of 2022.

Coin Start Year	Dead Coins by 2022
2013	66.67%
2014	76.54%
2015	68.42%
2016	60.87%
2017	57.14%
2018	27.62%
2019	4.74%
2020	1.03%
2021	0.59%
2022	0.06%

Part of this is because the cryptocurrency field itself was still being figured out. Many coins were launched in a time of experimentation and innovation, but also of volatility and uncertainty.

However, the trend began to shift in 2018. Only 27.62% of coins launched in that year have bit the dust so far, and the failure rates in 2019 and 2020 fell further to only 4.74% and 1.03% of launched coins, respectively.

This suggests that the crypto industry has become more mature and stable, with newer projects establishing themselves more securely and investors becoming wiser to potential scams.

How will this trend evolve into 2023 and beyond?