Over the last half-decade, the rapid proliferation of altcoins has been a defining feature of the crypto market. New tokens emerge seemingly overnight, often inspired by current events or pop culture trends. While some may find this creativity and innovation admirable, others argue it dilutes the entire industry’s credibility.
The recent surge of memecoins, for example, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, serves as a prime example of this phenomenon. Within hours of her passing, dozens of tokens bearing her name flooded the market, many of which had creators who were quick to pump and dump on unsuspecting investors.
While such instances may be dismissed as harmless fun, they also raise concerns about the overall maturity and seriousness of the crypto market. After all, if anyone can create a cryptocurrency with little more than a catchy name and a social media following, how can investors be sure that they are putting their money into projects with genuine potential?
In the face of such criticism, Bitcoin and Ethereum continue to reign supreme, commanding a combined market share of over 50%. This suggests investors are still largely focused on established assets with proven track records. It then makes you wonder why more cryptocurrencies are still being made and how many is too many.
Let’s find out!
Are there too many Cryptocurrencies?
While the cryptocurrency market is fundamentally influenced by the performance of Bitcoin and Ethereum, the question of whether there are too many cryptocurrencies remains valid.
On one hand, the abundance of choice can be seen as a positive, providing investors with a wide range of options. On the other hand, the sheer number of coins can make it difficult to conduct thorough research and identify those with genuine potential.
This is where the importance of due diligence comes into play, with people constantly seeking more info on cryptocurrencies before they invest. Investors need to be able to sift through the noise and identify projects that have a strong team, a clear vision, and a viable use case.
Why are there so many Cryptocurrencies?
The saturation of the crypto market with cryptocurrencies can be attributed to several factors. Let’s quickly review some of them.
Low entry barrier
Creating a cryptocurrency is a relatively simple and inexpensive process. All that is required is basic programming knowledge and access to the internet. Anyone with a desire to launch their digital currency can do so with relative ease.
Speculation and hype
The potential for quick profits continues to attract many entrepreneurs and investors to the cryptocurrency market.
In the early days of Bitcoin, it was not uncommon for investors to see their holdings increase by hundreds or even thousands of percent.
Ironically, this dynamic fed into a gold rush mentality, with many people launching new cryptocurrencies hoping to strike it rich.
Continuous innovation
The nature of the crypto space makes it such that developers are constantly experimenting with new features and functionalities for cryptocurrencies. This continuous stream of innovation results in the creation of a wide variety of coins, each with unique characteristics.
Forking
When a disagreement arises within the community of a particular cryptocurrency, it can sometimes lead to a fork. A fork happens when a group of developers creates a new version of the coin to improve it somehow.
Bitcoin Cash is an example of a crypto fork. The cryptocurrency was created as a fork of Bitcoin in 2017 and aimed to solve a number of problems presented by Bitcoin itself. As a result of these factors, the number of cryptocurrencies has exploded in recent years. Although some coins have genuine merit, many are copycats or pump-and-dump schemes.
In a sea of thousands of cryptocurrencies, finding a ‘crypto with potential’ can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. However, the effort is worth it, as investing in a promising project early on can yield significant returns.
That said, as the market matures, the number of coins will likely decline as investors gravitate towards those with strong fundamentals and the potential to succeed in the long term.
