There’s no doubt that 2018 has been a very difficult year for crypto investors and enthusiasts. It may well go down as one of the worst years ever experienced in crypto.
The crypto market lost nearly $700 billion since the start of the year due to several reasons including fraudulent projects, failed promises, and investors losing faith in the markets.
According to data from DeadCoins and Coinopsy, approximately 1000 cryptocurrency-related projects failed in 2018 and are now dead. While this may seem like a bad thing, the opposite couldn’t be truer.
Fraudulent and Poor Crypto Projects
The hyperbolic bull run and ICO mania phase of 2017 led to the creation of numerous fraudulent digital currency schemes and poor cryptocurrency projects. One such example is Bitconnect, which is one of the largest crypto-ponzi schemes of all time.
One way the industry classifies a crypto project as dead is by concluding the founders abandoned the project, was a scam, has no trading volume or transaction validating nodes, and/or its website is dead.
One of the most comprehensive information sources on inactive cryptos is DeadCoins, which shows that at least 934 digital currencies are now dead. Another popular information source for dead cryptocurrencies is Coinopsy, which has declared 483 digital currency projects as dead.
Types of Dead Coins
An interesting feature of the Coinopsy website is their categorization of dead cryptocurrencies being ICO Dead Coins, Joke Dead Coins, Abandoned Dead Coins, and Scam Dead Coins.
ICO Dead Coins
According to Coinopsy, there are 113 ICO Dead Coins. Digital currencies in this category have launched an ICO but have failed to deliver a product or any project updates regarding ongoing development. Coins used in pump-and-dump schemes or other forms of market manipulation are in this category.
Joke Dead Coins
Coinopsy has listed 9 Joke Dead Coins although there are plenty of other “joke coins” still thriving. Dead Joke Coins are digital currencies created just for fun or as a joke. One famous example is Dogecoin (DOGE), which is doing quite well for a joke coin.
Abandoned Dead Coins
Coinopsy has listed 148 Abandoned Dead Coins. These types of coins fall in this category if they are delisted by all exchanges, lose traction, have no nodes, wallet issues, no community, etc.
Scam Dead Coins
Coinopsy has listed 86 Scam Dead Coins. Cryptos listed here had the sole intention of scamming their users or investors. One famous example is Bitconnect, which once had a value of an astonishing $442 per coin and had a market cap of over $2 billion.
Conclusion
Going into 2019 and beyond, we can only hope that traders and investors have learned from their mistakes and the mistakes of others regarding the numerous crypto projects out there.
However, Ponzi schemes have been around for hundreds of years and as long as people remain greedy, there will be those who fall victim to their scams.
A new cryptocurrency bull run will most definitely give birth to new digital currencies that will eventually die. For those still involved in crypto when the next bull run happens, they’ll have a competitive advantage as they look back and remember the cryptos that died in 2018.
Did you invest in any dead crypto projects? Let us know in the comment section below.
