Crypto Market 2025: Record Token Failures as Bitcoin Falls Behind Gold

Historic Record Year for Failed Cryptocurrencies

The crypto market recorded a concerning negative milestone in 2025: More than 11.6 million tokens ceased their trading activities, marking the highest number of failed cryptocurrencies ever measured within a single year ^[1]. The situation proved particularly dramatic in the memecoin sector, which was disproportionately affected by this development.

In the fourth quarter of 2025 alone, approximately 7.7 million tokens listed on GeckoTerminal ended active trading ^[1]. Analyst Lee identified the market crash of October 10 as a key trigger, during which crypto leverage positions worth over $19 billion were liquidated within a single day. "This sharp decline in token survivability is likely related to the comprehensive market turbulence throughout the year, which particularly hit the memecoin sector," the analyst explained ^[1].

Dramatic Year-Over-Year Increase

The scale of the problem becomes clear in historical comparison: While approximately 1.3 million projects failed on GeckoTerminal in 2024, this figure stood at merely 2,584 in 2021 ^[1]. Particularly alarming: 86 percent of all total token failures between 2021 and 2025 occurred in 2025 alone ^[1].

CoinGecko classifies a token as failed when it was previously actively traded but now shows no trading activity whatsoever ^[1]. The report cites the sharply increased number of newly issued cryptocurrencies as the main factor for the explosive growth. The number of tokens listed on GeckoTerminal climbed from approximately three million at the end of 2024 to around twenty million by the end of 2025 ^[1].

A central role was played by the launch of the Solana-based memecoin launchpad pump.fun in January 2024, which led to a multitude of low-effort projects through its simplified token creation process ^[1].

Bitcoin Loses Ground Against Gold

While the token market collapses, even established cryptocurrencies show a troubling picture. Bitcoin slipped below 20 ounces relative to gold at the beginning of 2026 and now hovers near two-year lows ^[2]. While gold and silver reach new all-time highs and continue their price discovery phase, Bitcoin remains stagnant.

Karel Mercx, investment specialist at Dutch investment advisory firm Beleggers Belangen, draws a sobering conclusion: "The verdict is in: The debasement trade is Gold & Silver, not Bitcoin," he wrote on X ^[2]. "A frontal assault on the FED sends metals to new all-time highs while BTC sits 20 percent below its peak."

Mercx questioned the notion that Bitcoin is an attractive destination for investors seeking protection from fiat currency debasement. Despite positioning itself as "digital gold," actual capital flows show clear demand for physical precious metals. "The narrative is broken," he stated. "Investors are choosing the original hard money over the digital experiment. Book closed" ^[2].

Growing Concerns in the Crypto Community

Urgency is growing within the crypto community. Crypto trader and analyst Michaël van de Poppe acknowledged that time for a market recovery may be running short ^[2]. Benjamin Cowen, crypto market commentator, described gold's performance against the S&P 500 as "one of the most important charts right now" and warned: "If SPX breaks down against gold, the environment we've been in for the past decade will completely change" ^[2].

As early as September 2025, Mercx had declared the four-year Bitcoin price cycle "dead" – a narrative that is gaining increasing popularity ^[2]. "$BTC relative to gold shows that each cycle is weaker than the last, and now the first four-year loss," he wrote at the time ^[2].