Visualizing the New Cryptocurrency Ecosystem

Published

4 years ago

November 19, 2019

Ashley Viens

Visualizing the Cryptocurrency Ecosystem

Visualizing the New Cryptocurrency Economy

Over a decade ago, the birth of Bitcoin sparked a revolution in the digital world — and just last year, the number of active cryptocurrencies jumped from roughly 1,600 to over 3,000 worldwide.

Cryptocurrencies have now evolved past simple digital currencies, offering solutions to meet the complex needs of modern financial markets.

Today’s graphic from Abra visualizes the complex, ever-evolving cryptocurrency ecosystem and its real-world applications.

Characteristics of Cryptocurrencies

Why are cryptocurrencies important for the future of digital finance?

Borderless
Drastically reduces fees and processing times due to a lack of cross-border restrictions
Censorship-free
Prevents governments or major institutions from blocking financial activities at whim
Greater financial control
Individuals can have total control of their funds
Greater security
Prevents fraudulent alterations from third parties
Lower costs
Lower transaction fees thanks to fewer third parties
Greater Accessibility
Reduces or eliminates traditional barriers to capital markets

Much like the internet has forever altered how we live and work, cryptocurrencies have the potential to change how people participate in global financial markets.

Categorizing the New Crypto Economy

Today’s cryptocurrencies go beyond replacing cash. This new token-based economy is evolving─with unique solutions emerging in finance, security, identification, social engagement, and ownership.

Cryptocurrencies are generally categorized by their primary application within the ecosystem:

Payments
Digital cash can be used for both ecommerce and brick-and-mortar retailers
Store of value
New form of scarce native currency and a means of settlement
Programmable money
Borderless money that enables easy conversion between currencies
Stablecoins
Crypto version of fiat which is tied to the value of resources like gold or the U.S. dollar
Privacy
Private digital transactions, with some offering anonymity
Digital ownership
Digital handling, storage, and monetization of data
Decentralized utilities
Crypto-enabled networks, products, and services that exchange between assets
Alternative finance
Digital assets such as collectibles, commodities, and tokenized securities

Cryptocurrencies are adding both value and utility to the digital economy, and to the global financial market as a whole.

Applications of Cryptocurrencies

Because cryptocurrencies are programmable, customizable computer code, developers can design and adapt them for many use cases within the digital economy.

How are these various cryptocurrencies being used in everyday applications?

Current Projects

SPEDN auto-converts crypto to fiat for merchants, reducing exchange rate risk while offering convenient customer payment options.
Slice offers real estate investing to anyone for as low as $10,000 through fractional investment.

Near-future Projects

CyClean plans to launch a blockchain-enabled electric vehicle (EV) fleet that mines crypto as users travel—reducing emissions and rewarding users for doing so.
Digital construction platform Builderium connects contractors to clients around the world through blockchain, opening up a global marketplace of potential deals.

These are just a few of the ways cryptocurrencies are breaking down barriers for people and companies worldwide—allowing them to grow personal wealth and enter the global market.

The Growth of the Crypto Economy

Worldwide, the numbers show that blockchain-based technology and cryptocurrency use is growing. Blockchain wallet users rose from nearly 9 million in 2016 to over 42 million in 2019.

Developers produced a mere 100 decentralized apps (DApps) in 2015─with that number skyrocketing to over 3,100 by 2019.

Overall, cryptocurrencies are helping to create an innovative and accessible financial system around the world.

Cryptocurrency deserves an opportunity to find a sustainable future in our economy.

—Adena Friedman, President & CEO of NASDAQ

While the future of the new cryptocurrency economy is still taking shape, one thing is certain─cryptos are forever altering the way we view and measure the value of money.

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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

7 months 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?