As of early November 2025, the crypto market is still under pressure. A recent report shows that 72 out of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap are trading at least 50% below their all-time highs. This ongoing slump highlights just how tough the market has been, especially after the 2021 bull run hype faded.

Big names like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), and LEO Token are holding up better than most. These major coins are within 30% of their peak prices, showing more stability compared to the rest of the market. But mid-sized and smaller coins are having a rough time. Tokens like Filecoin (FIL), The Graph (GRT), Tezos (XTZ), and Polkadot (DOT) are still down between 80% and 95% from their highs. This signals big struggles in sectors like gaming, AI crypto, and meme coins.

Since 2021, nearly 7 million new tokens have been created, but around 3.7 million have already failed. Just in the first three months of 2025, over 1.8 million crypto projects shut down. A major reason is the rise of platforms like pump.fun, which make it easy to launch meme coins and other low-quality tokens. While this made it simple for anyone to create a coin, it also flooded the market with weak projects.

Because there are so many tokens fighting for attention and money, the long-awaited “altseason” — where alternative coins rally together — hasn’t really happened this cycle. Investors might want to focus on well-known or high-quality projects that have strong fundamentals and real use cases.

The crypto space has grown fast but is full of failures. Over half of all tokens created since 2021 are now inactive. That includes tokens that stopped trading, were removed from exchanges, or simply died due to scams, low interest, or poor planning.

In fact, 2025 has seen the highest rate of project failures in history. The meme coin craze that took off in 2024 thanks to pump.fun led to more than a million meme tokens being launched — but most didn’t last. They lacked purpose or utility and crashed quickly.

Crypto project failures happen for a few main reasons:

– No real use or adoption (42%): Many coins launch with hype but no actual function or long-term value. Meme tokens often fall into this category.
– Scams and rug pulls (29%): Some developers launch a coin, gather investor money, and then disappear. In 2025, this type of fraud spiked.
– Poor development: Projects that stop updating their websites or social media usually end up abandoned. About 99% of failed coins showed signs of inactivity.
– Overcrowded market: With over 37 million unique tokens created by September 2025 — and numbers expected to reach 100 million by year-end — it’s nearly impossible for most new tokens to get noticed or supported.

Even some high-profile or celebrity-endorsed coins have flopped. Coins tied to public figures — including some involving Trump family ventures — have dropped over 90% in value and are now labeled as scams by many observers.

Bear markets tend to expose weak crypto projects. Even those backed by venture capital have a high failure rate — about 75%. Many simply run out of money or fail to attract enough users.

The early part of 2025 was especially rough for altcoins following the U.S. presidential inauguration. Regulatory pressure also played a role. For example, Telegram’s TON project halted after facing issues with the SEC.

Some of the biggest past failures still serve as warnings:

– Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin crash in 2022 wiped out over $40 billion. The new version, LUNA 2.0, trades at less than 1% of its old high.
– A major Ponzi scheme promising 1% daily returns collapsed, causing over $3 billion in losses.
– FTX’s collapse in late 2022 led to $8 billion in lost user funds; its token is now worthless.
– Many pump.fun memecoins gained short-term attention only to crash hard afterward — like “Peanut the Squirrel,” which spiked 4,800% before losing over half its value.

Other notable failures include QuadrigaCX, whose CEO died with access to $190 million locked away, and countless ICOs from the 2021 boom that never delivered.

All of this shows one clear trend: survival in crypto is brutal. Only a small number of projects will make it long-term. For investors, sticking with well-established or fundamentally strong cryptocurrencies may be the safest path forward in such a crowded and volatile space.