Big Questions: Do we really only need 2–5 cryptocurrencies?
There were 20 kings of crypto back in January 2017. Dash. Augur. NEM. Stratis. They sat in the top 20 by market capitalization. They commanded billions in collective value. They attracted developers and retail investors who believed they were buying the future of money. As of May 2026, however, none remain in the top 20 by market capitalization. Only a handful of 2017 survivors like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP still hold top positions today, underscoring cryptos high attrition rate. Several projects have ceased development with their communities dissolving when the price did. The question this raises is not how many projects have died. It is how many of the survivors are necessary. Those dead cryptocurrencies have been replaced by millions more, if you include the memecoins churned out by launchpads like Pump.fun. Of the less transient projects, CoinGecko currently tracks more than 15,000 cryptocurrencies, while Messaris more rigorous methodology narrows the field to around 250 crypto projects worth monitoring. Among those 250, how many are truly doing something useful and different that actually justifies their existence? The top 10 coins from March 2017 (YouTube) Nic Puckrin, co-founder of Coin Bureau, sees no reason to expect the graveyard to stop filling. “More often than not,” he says,