It goes without saying that 2018 was somewhat of a turbulent year for the cryptocurrency market. Moreover, the media has frequently seized on Bitcoin’s price drops, branding the premier cryptocurrency ”dead” several times.



Bitcoin recovered from ”death” approximately 90 times in 2018



According to data from the cryptocurrency industry news platform 99Bitcoins, Bitcoin recovered from being ”dead” 90 times during the past year. Contrary to this, there are also around 1,000 entries pertaining to altcoins which, for various reasons, disappeared from the market during 2018.



More specifically, these altcoins are compiled in a database by Dead Coins, a platform summarizing ”cryptocurrencies forgotten by this world.”



The Dead Coins database is littered with assets that have, for one reason or another, failed. Most oftentimes cryptocurrency assets ”fail” due to falling prey to hacks or being scams.



Dead Coins also include cryptocurrencies that are ”parody” assets with little or no practical purpose, as well as cryptocurrencies that have simply become ”deceased”.



The total number of ”dead” altcoins is currently, according to Dead Coins, 934. To put this into perspective, the total number of cryptocurrencies with a measurable market capitalization is currently 2073, according to CoinMarketCap.



Although Bitcoin is still alive, 934 altcoins are listed as ”dead”



This illustrates that Bitcoin is far more versatile and ”alive” than many other altcoins, despite the media oftentimes seizing on price drops to proclaim the ”death” of Bitcoin.



This mainly stems from Bitcoin’s standing as the premier cryptocurrency, and many people’s perception that Bitcoin ”is” cryptocurrency. This makes it attractive to pen articles capitalizing on price swings and calling Bitcoin price shifts the ”death” of the cryptocurrency.



However, in reality, many altcoins routinely do – in fact – die, as this data suggests. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is still very much alive – although it has suffered a substantial price drop during the last 12 months.



The well-known Bitcoin developer Jimmy Song recently highlighted the decentralized nature of Bitcoin as something which separates it from altcoins.



In his blog post, Song wrote that Bitcoin allows ”entrepreneurs [to] decide what innovations will happen with their money and effort. In altcoins, central committees decide what innovations will happen.”



Nonetheless, it should be noted that Dead Coins’ data should be taken with a grain of salt, as anyone can submit a ”dead” altcoin to the website. Be that as it may, it still presents an interesting alternative to media’s frequent Bitcoin obituaries.

