There are over 10,000 cryptocurrencies in the market at any given moment. Some die out, and others come to take their place, so how do you tell the winners from the losers?
Some of the worst crypto coins had the lofty goal of replacing fiat currency or giving people in developing countries access to affordable loans. Others were not as ambitious. The creators of $STOPELON, for example, want to combat the disproportionate influence Elon Musk’s posts have on the crypto market. However, they don’t seem to have a plan to achieve this.
Why do crypto coins fail?
On the note of Musk, there are all kinds of (supposedly) fun meme coins that want to become the next Dogecoin or Shiba Inu. All things considered, it’s no surprise so many cryptocurrencies have failed. Since the inception of Bitcoin 15 years ago, over 2,000 altcoins have fizzled out. Frauds and scams are just one reason for the failure of the worst crypto coins. Other factors include publicity, lack of a sound development plan, loss of traction, and issues with developers, including their personal problems.
The worst crypto coins had poor or no publicity
Like any other product, cryptocurrency must be marketed carefully to potential buyers to ensure success. Potential investors and traders are attracted by good publicity. If it is poor, the project fails to gain trust. This ultimately leads to its demise, as no investor wants to risk their funds.
The worst crypto coins didn’t have a plan
Smart investors want to get an idea of the future of a crypto product. They want to see a clear progression path, especially if they plan on investing heavily. If the coin doesn’t seem to have a development plan, it pushes potential buyers away, joining the ranks of the worst crypto coins.
The worst crypto coins had developer issues
The crypto developer is a crucial factor most investors and traders consider when choosing a coin. Investors are not likely to stake funds if the developers are known to struggle with issues like responsibility and trust. Personal problems faced by the developers or fallouts between them and project leaders can cause the entire project to become nothing but one of the worst crypto coins.
Without further ado, here are some of the worst crypto coins and biggest losers in history.
1. BoringCoin lived up to its lack of hype
It is with pain that we rank this at no. 1 among the worst crypto coins because the product was actually well-meant. BoringCoin launched in 2014 with the promises of no hype, no drama, and no pump-and-dump scams. It turned out to be a joke coin and didn’t make it past 2014 like the vast majority of the worst crypto coins launched that year. It had no purpose, but it did achieve one thing – lack of hype.
2. GetGems was no diamond in the rough
GetGems (GEMZ) is among the most memorable worst crypto coins. It entered the market in 2015 after raising around $1 million through direct investments and crowdfunding. It was to serve a mobile messaging platform with an integrated incentivization token based on Bitcoin. The idea was that holders would invite friends to sign up and earn more GEMZ in the process.
It didn’t build up speed despite the initial hype, but it did persevere until May 2017, when it reached an all-time high of almost $0.06. It joined the ranks of the worst crypto coins thereafter, and all trading ceased.
3. SpaceBIT disappeared into space
SpaceBIT was one of the most ambitious, but nonetheless the worst crypto coins in history. The developers wanted the whole world to have access to electronic money. They followed through with their plan to launch a nanosatellite that was to support the cryptocurrency. Nothing ever came of the project. It ultimately stopped streaming and disappeared.
4. Aircoin went up in thin air
Aircoin was another one of the worst crypto coins to launch in 2014, the dawn of crypto. Its developers were never identified. At the core of this asset was a complicated scheme to adjust the block rewards according to the exchange rate with the aim of ensuring a gradually increasing rate. The premise seemed serious, and people trusted it.
The developers of the worst crypto coin did not clarify the connection between the exchange rate and the block reward. Ultimately, there wasn’t one. The idea was not to implement block reward adjustments automatically, but instead through a hard fork and by releasing a new client version.
In theory, the coin supply was limited to a billion coins. The developers implemented a reward halving time at roughly the same interval as Bitcoin’s, but it didn’t make sense because the rewards were to be adjusted to target a specific exchange rate. Nobody called them out on the bad math. They claimed that with the dynamic adjustments, the mining rewards should last for up to 1,000 years, but there was no way. The launch of the coin was botched to boot because nobody could access the node server.
5. NanoHealthCare didn’t solve a single healthcare issue
NanoHealthCare Token was launched more recently, dating from 2018. Its creator, Manish Ranjan, wanted the coin to mitigate high costs, improve medical data security, and resolve other healthcare issues. All news of the token ceased in 2020. This contestant for the worst crypto coin had no trading volume and was ultimately abandoned.
6. PayCoin didn’t pan out as a payment method
PayCoin was launched by GAW and Josh Garza, two highly respected miners at the time, and its use became sustainable soon after its launch. So why is it on this list of the worst crypto coins?
PayCoin was created specifically for PayBase, a crypto payment processing platform. It used proof-of-stake (PoS) and proof-of-work (PoW) to achieve distributed consensus. So far so good, but it was rushed to market, which compromised its security. It raised high investments at the time and even had its own PayCoin wallet. It peaked at $12 per 1 PayCoin but started losing value due to the security issues.
GAW’s shutting down was its death knell. Eventually, Garza was imprisoned for wire fraud.
Worst crypto coins: The biggest losers of 2023 and 2024
This section of the article is dedicated to some of the worst crypto coins that aren’t exactly dead yet but could be getting there. The first one is Jupiter (JUP), the native token of the Jupiter Exchange running on Solana. JUP lost almost two-thirds of its value in January 2024 despite the stellar reputation of the Solana ecosystem and being listed on leading centralized exchanges. It was listed on Binance around the time of its successful airdrop, partnered with Mercuryo for a fiat on-ramp, and is tanking despite that.
JUP’s price peaked at $2 on January 31, 2024. According to CoinGecko, it’s currently 75.37% down from its all-time high.
ApeCoin (APE) started 2023 on a high note, reaching $6.5 in the first week of January. By October, it had fallen to $1, easily making it the worst crypto coin of 2023. This result was linked without a doubt to the plummeting value of the Bored Apes NFT collection. On April 28, 2022, ApeCoin peaked at $26.70. Its current price is down 93.41% from its all-time high.
Another victim of the failing NFT market is BLUR, the token of the eponymous NFT exchange platform. It started with high hopes but underwent a steep downturn last year, becoming one of the worst crypto coins in 2023. The poor results came despite a listing on Binance and a successful second-season airdrop. BLUR lost almost 90% of its value in 2023.
How to avoid buying the worst crypto coins
All investments come with some risk, and as this ranking of the worst crypto coins has shown, even reputable and experienced developers can make mistakes.
If you research the founders, consider the use cases of the coin, check where it’s listed, and keep up with its social media, you’ll be taking sufficient steps to protect yourself from the worst crypto coins.
Research the creators
The biggest red flag is not knowing who is behind a coin. Research the coin’s creators to make sure they haven’t been implicated in scams in the past. They should never have been a part of one of the worst crypto coin projects.
Consider its use cases and plan
Why was the coin created? How will it achieve its goals? Make sure you understand the premise behind it. If it seems like you need to be a math genius or a technical whiz to grasp the use case, it’s better to stay away. The asset is likely to end up being one of the worst crypto coins. As a bare minimum, you must understand how the founders plan to mint new coins and how they will secure the blockchain.
Stay away from joke coins. Dogecoin may be successful now, but we don’t know if it is sustainable or if it is destined to become one of the worst crypto coins in history.
Check where it’s listed
You have some protection if the asset is listed on a leading cryptocurrency exchange. These sites vet the products they list. If a coin becomes extremely popular, though, the exchange will succumb to market pressure.
Keep track of its social media
An inactive X feed or a website that hasn’t been updated for months is a sign of a failing coin. Talk to members of the community about the asset you want to buy to get an idea of where you’re investing funds.
No digital asset is immune to being categorized as the worst crypto coin down the line. Don’t invest any money you aren’t prepared to lose, and do as much research as possible.
