Memecoins Fuel Deadliest Year for Crypto Tokens

Crypto market turbulence decimated memecoins in particular last year, driving the number of crypto project failures to over 11.6 million in 2025, the highest level recorded for a single year.

The fourth quarter of 2025 was among the worst, with 7.7 million tokens listed on GeckoTerminal ceasing active trading during the period, according to a report by CoinGecko research analyst Shaun Paul Lee released on Friday. 

Lee said the Oct. 10 market crash, which saw over $19 billion of crypto leverage liquidated in a day, was a key catalyst.

“This sharp decline in token survivability may be linked to the broader market turbulence throughout the year, which particularly affected the memecoin sector,” he added.

The number of failures had skyrocketed from previous years, according to Lee. Over 1.3 million projects listed on GeckoTerminal failed in 2024, while only 2,584 failed in 2021.

Memecoins are among the riskiest bets in crypto, and their success or failure can be an indication of how much risk investors are willing to take.

Memecoin launchpads flood the market

Another reason for the high level of token failures could also be the sheer volume of coins created in 2025 compared to other years.

GeckoTerminal shows there were 3 million tokens listed at the end of 2024, but 20 million by the end of 2025. 

Lee points to the launch of Solana memecoin launchpad pump.fun in January 2024 as a driving force behind the flood of new projects.

“The ease of launching tokens on launchpads has led to a surge in low-effort memecoins and projects entering the market,” he said.

“Before the launch of pump.fun in 2024, cryptocurrency failures numbered in the low six digits. Project failures between 2021 and 2023 made up just 3.4% of all cryptocurrency failures over the past five years.”

Memecoin market cap roars into 2026

Memecoins saw a strong start to the year as market capitalization surged from $38 billion on Dec. 29 to $47.7 billion by Jan. 5, before cooling to around $43.7 billion as of Monday, according to CoinMarketCap.

Related: Pump.fun hits lowest monthly revenue in 2025 as memecoins lose steam

During the same period, memecoin transaction volumes jumped 300%, from $2.17 billion to $8.7 billion. Transaction volumes are roughly $3.69 billion on Monday; however, the metric has registered a more than 34% gain for the day. 

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