The number of cryptocurrencies increased by almost 100% in 2021

The number of cryptocurrencies on the market has been steadily rising since they became more popular. Undoubtedly, they have come a long way since 2009, when BTC was indeed the only cryptocurrency. More cryptocurrencies are now being released as technology in this sector evolves to make it easy for everyone to create one.

The number of cryptocurrencies increased significantly in 2021

This easy formation of cryptocurrencies has led to a large influx of new coins into the market. In 2021, the number of cryptocurrencies reached 8,153 on January 1. This number, 8,153, represents all the coins that have been created since BTC first entered the sector more than a decade ago. Now that number has almost doubled. According to available data, almost half of the coins on the crypt market were created and launched this year.

In 2021, 8,070 new coins were created, leading to almost a 100% increase in just one year. There are now a total of 16,223 cryptocurrencies on the crypt market.

On average, about 21 new cryptocurrencies are created every day. The total number of cryptocurrencies on the market reached a new high in October, reaching 13,000. In the last two months alone, more than 3,000 new coins have been launched.

This number is expected to grow further in 2022 as new technologies in the cryptocurrency sector facilitate token creation. In some cases, it only takes a few minutes to create and market your own token.

Memecoins and shitcoins are behind the growth

The role that memecoins have played in the growing number of cryptocurrencies on the market is indisputable. New coins were launched faster than any other year in history, and the popularity and success of coins such as Shiba Inu and Dogecoin helped support this growth.

Coins like these have proven that a digital asset may not have a proven use case. Thanks to mere hype, these cryptocurrencies were so successful that their market capitalization grew by billions of dollars and created several millionaires.

This has encouraged more people to create what are essentially ‘shitcoins’, cryptocurrencies without use or a long-term plan, in the hope that they will be the next SHIB or DOGE, some of which are just outright scams.

However, the new coins, although half, still control a small portion of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization. It is estimated that the top 3 coins by market capitalization, or 0.02%, control about 70% of the market capitalization of cryptocurrencies.

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