There are over 10,000 tokens currently listed on CoinGecko, each with their own “superpower.” But not all of them are still alive. In the last year, the number of dead coins has increased by 35%, nearing the 2000 mark. That’s spooky if you ask me. RIP!
In truth, the actual number of dead coins is much greater than that as not every coin is listed on analytics websites such as CoinMarketCap or CoinGecko. Every rug-pull equates to a dead coin, and one article highlights that there have been around 1,300 rug pulls, registered to date. However, the number of coins that die every day is problematic.
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It’s not only meme coins that die. Following the 2017 bull cycle, which saw the first emergence of the Altcoin season, tokens posted record-breaking gains, only to deflate in the following months as the crypto market entered a bear cycle, during which a great number of tokens lost their momentum during, some even disappearing completely or reforming under a new name.
At the end of some of these tunnels, there is a light, regardless of the coin’s past, and some cryptocurrencies have managed to break through to the other side and become relevant again. Below, we list the most important coins that came back from the dead and are still relevant in the context of the current market.
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Ethereum Classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) is probably the best example of how a coin can be resurrected and stay relevant after signing their own death certificate. In 2016, after the currency Ethereum chain was hacked for $50 million, the community voted for a hard fork, making room for the first Ethereum Classic to be mined.
Even though the network was detached from any future Ethereum updates, the coin survived and even reached new all-time highs during the 2017 bull run. Moreover, ETC reached an absolute high in 2021, when it climbed to $176 in value as dinocoin season got underway in the market.
What’s striking is that despite several 51% attacks on the network in both 2019 and 2020, the network has held steady, as investors ignored most of the warning signs. In the crypto sphere, a 51% equates to a death sentence for a given network, but Ethereum Classic has managed to pull one out of the bag and still rank 32nd by market capitalization.
Bancor
Bancor, the decentralized exchange network, managed to remain relevant despite being hacked in 2018. Reports indicate that the protocol lost $13.5 million in 2018 after hackers accessed a wallet and withdrew mostly Ethereum tokens. Moreover, according to TechCrunch, the hacker also withdrew $10 million in BNT, the native token of the network.
Interestingly, in 2020, Bancor hacked itself after discovering vulnerabilities in its smart contract. According to a 1inch report, white-hat hackers “made attempts to rescue user funds” and have spent 3.94 ETH in order to rescue $410,194 worth of user’s funds from badly coded smart contracts.
Bancor managed to resurrect itself during the DeFi summer, despite ongoing security breaches in their smart contracts. The token price peaked at $9 during 2021 after sentiment towards the new iteration of the network changed.
The Aftermath
Crypto is not for the faint of heart. Projects can easily gain momentum and use the generated hype to post significant price increases, however, maintaining and building on the trust investors put in the tokens is another question, and where most projects fail. Yet, some projects do manage to break through and continue, despite being hacked or “FUDed” without reason on social platforms.
Coins that come back from the dead are rare, but they have a lot the merit once they do.
On The Flipside
- Most cryptocurrencies fail, are abandoned, or have their investors look into other projects that can give them a higher return on investment.
- Bitcoin could also be considered to have come back from the dead after reaching a low of $5000 in 2020.
Why You Should Care?
The crypto market is unpredictable. While most tokens fail because they cannot confer enough value to their investors, some tokens that have had serious issues and still managed to stay relevant, which is encouraging for the market as a whole.
