There are 2419 cryptocurrencies in existence today, according to data from CoinmarketCap. These are tokens that have met the minimum requirements by the platform to qualify for listing. The rate at which these tokens arrive on the scene represents the astonishing number of cryptocurrencies created every year.

Launched in 2013, the token listing platform has over the years become a universally accepted portal for information about cryptocurrencies and exchanges. Participants in the cryptocurrency industry use CoinmarketCap for both information and research purposes.

Because of how widely CoinmarketCap is accepted in the industry, many startups in the blockchain industry work hard to ensure that their coins get listed on the platform. Perhaps this is the reason why we see such an influx of cryptocurrencies on the data-providing platform every year.

2013

The CoinmarketCap listing platform launched in April 2013 with only 7 coins on its list. Gradually, the list grew and by December of the same year, had a total of 67 different cryptocurrencies on the platform.

Growth in awareness and increase in cryptocurrency activities saw more projects emerge and a number of cryptocurrencies grow. By that time the Bitcoin price was at $745 and the total cryptocurrency market capitalization was $10,364,136,026.

2014

By 2014, the cryptocurrency market exploded with many more projects arriving on the scene. The controversies that surrounded Bitcoin at the time, plus the regulatory concerns contributed to the global recognition of the technology. More and more projects emerged, and the number of cryptocurrencies increased.

By December 2014, the Bitcoin price had slumped to around $317, while the market capitalization of the entire cryptocurrency market also dropped to $5,555,954,557. However, the number of cryptocurrencies increased to 517, representing an addition of 450 coins to the list in a single year.

2015

In 2015 the cryptocurrency market began to pick up again. Not as many new coins were listed as per the previous year, but the price of Bitcoin rose to $422 and total market capitalization also increased to $6,946,919,35.

A total number of 67 new cryptocurrencies were added that year. This contributed to the astonishing number of cryptocurrencies created every year. At the end of 2015, we had 577 cryptocurrencies listed on CoinmarketCap.

2016

2016 arrived with a lot of interesting events in the cryptocurrency industry. The most prominent of which were all the events surrounding the Ethereum network and regulatory issues in the industry as a whole. In the end, the awareness in the industry was sky-high, and Ethereum-based dApps began to populate the industry.

This is the season that heralded the ICO boom era, and by the end of 2016, the number of coins listed on CoinmarketCap was 663. Total cryptocurrency market capitalization swelled to $16,385,559,809, and the Bitcoin price sat at $896.

2017

2017 was one of the most active years so far in the cryptocurrency marketplace. This was the year when all kinds of projects were launched and many new users entered the cryptocurrency industry. All kinds of projects emerged, taking advantage of the deregulated cryptocurrency market.

A total of 690 new coins found their way into the marketplace and were listed on Coinmarketcap. It was in this year that the Bitcoin price, and that of many other cryptocurrencies, made their most significant surge. The market expanded and adoption increased. At the end of 2017, the Bitcoin price was at $14,156 while the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies was $614,240,509,703.

2018

The success of 2017 ushered the market into the year long crypto winter of 2018. After reaching an all-time high of $20,089 in January 2018, Bitcoin price slumped, dragging with it all other cryptocurrencies in the market. Activities dropped in the industry, but that did not stop the addition of 720 new coins to the list on Coinmarketcap. This raised the coins list to 2073.

By the end of 2018, the Bitcoin price was down to $3,865, and the cryptocurrency market capitalization slumped to $130,538,793,513.

2019

The market has picked up in 2019, especially since the beginning of the second quarter. Bitcoin price is at $11,763 and the market capitalization has risen up to $309,881,028,557. It is still the beginning of August 2019, and we have already witnessed an addition of 346 coins, bringing the total number of coins to 2419. We expect to see this number increase before the end of the year.

Conclusion

Although there are so many cryptocurrencies in the market today, not all of them still have value. Majority of the coins are regarded as dead coins because their underlying blockchain does not have sufficient network effect. This is usually as a result of low adoption and probably the lack of a viable use case.

This situation has left a lot of investors with coins that cannot be exchanged for any reasonable value. It also leaves the marketplace littered with non-active projects that need to make way for a cleaner ecosystem.

This is why CoinJanitor has come up with a solution that would restore value for those communities that are stuck with dead coins. The project will exchange the dead coins for its much more valuable JAN tokens. This will give investors the opportunity to recover their funds, and at the same time make for a cleaner marketplace. This is because the retrieved dead coins will eventually be burned, and their blockchains ineffective.

This is a necessary process for the emerging technology which needs all the sanity it can afford. The astonishing number of cryptocurrencies created every year has not helped matters in this case. However, perhaps you are stuck with some dead coins, you can simply visit the CoinJanitor website to submit them and embark on your value restoration journey.

