Did you know that there are more than 10,000 cryptocurrencies on the market right now? Some aim to work as currency and eventually exchange dollars in your wallet. Others offer affordable loans in developing countries, and one even promises to replace the internet as we know it.
Some have less lofty goals. There is a $STOPELON coin designed to protest against the huge influence that Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s tweets have on the crypto market. It’s unclear exactly how they plan to do this. But speaking of Musk, there’s a lot of pet money he’s aiming to copy. Dogecoins are only successful by having fun and meme ability.
With all this in mind, it’s no surprise that so many cryptocurrencies are failing. In fact, more than 2,000 coins have died since Bitcoin was born in 2009. According to Coinopsy, a site that tracks dead coins, nine coins have already died this year. It indicates that coins fail or are abandoned for many reasons, including:
- Fraud and scams
- Failure to make business plans
- loss of traction
- Personal issues faced by developers
Let’s take a look at the five coins that failed.
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1. OneCoin (ONE)
Launched in 2014, OneCoin was one of the first crypto scams. Its founder, the self-named “CryptoQueen” Ruja Ignatova, has hosted lavish events around the world, including Wembley Arena in the UK. There he touted OneCoin as the “Bitcoin Killer.”
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Millions of investors would then end up in fraud that turned into a $4 billion Ponzi scheme that used money from new investors to repay existing ones. Ignatova disappeared in 2017 when the network was finally shut down and police issued warrants for her arrest.
2. BitConnect (BCC)
Launched in 2016, BitConnect is another fake coin that is currently notoriously famous. The coin reached an all-time high in December 2017 and was one of CoinMarketCap’s best performing coins that year. But after only a few months, it had no value.
Its aggressive marketing, along with other incentives, promised returns of 0.5% to 1% per day. But like OneCoin, it was a pyramid scheme. The high returns he paid were financed by new investors, and when the platform crashed, people lost everything.
3. BoringCoin (ZZZ)
Launched in 2014, BoringCoin has promised no drama, no hype, and no pump and no dump. Like an estimated 90% to 95% of joke coins, it did not survive the year. Coinopsy lists the coin as dead because it is a joke or serves no purpose. Or maybe it was too boring.
4. GetGems (GEMZ)
GetGems was a social messaging app that allowed people to send and receive Bitcoin. Users can earn more GEMZ by inviting their friends to sign up. Founded in 2015 by Daniel Peled, it raised nearly $1 million through crowdfunding and direct investment, but was unable to eventually provide it.
According to CoinMarketCap data, the price reached $0.0579 in May 2017, before the cryptocurrency stopped trading altogether.
5. NanoHealthCare Icon (NHCT)
We looked at some older cryptocurrencies, but a few newer cryptocurrencies have already failed, including the NanoHealthCare Token. The India-based token was created by Manish Ranjan in 2018 to change the reality of health. He wanted to use blockchain to impact lives by solving systemic health issues such as data security and high costs.
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Unfortunately, there have been no updates to the Twitter feed since April 2020, and the website is no longer available. Coinopsy lists him dead because he was abandoned or had no volume.
