Memecoins hit hardest in rough year that saw 11.6M tokens fail

Memecoin launchpads such as pump.fun flooded the market in 2025 with millions of “low effort” coins, leading to a record number of crypto token failures.

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.

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