Why New Coins Keep Popping Up (And Why Most Will Die)

Every day there’s a new crypto launching. But here’s the thing—most are either clones or scams. Let’s break down how this actually works and why you should probably stay away.

The Three Ways to Birth a Coin

Copy-Paste Method The easiest route? Grab an existing blockchain’s code, tweak it a bit, and boom—new coin. Sounds lazy? That’s because it is. This is why 20,000+ cryptocurrencies exist on CoinMarketCap. Most are just Xeroxes of Xeroxes.

Hard Fork Drama Sometimes communities fight over blockchain direction. Can’t agree? The code splits, creating two different coins. Bitcoin Cash is the famous example—born from the 2015-2017 Bitcoin scalability wars. Even Ethereum’s creator Vitalik called it “mostly a failure,” saying communities built on rebellion tend to prioritize idealism over actual competence.

Start From Zero Building your own blockchain from scratch is the hardest play. Aptos tried this in 2022 (made by ex-Meta devs), but the launch flopped because its token allocation looked sketchy—nearly 50% went to insiders and VCs.

The Token Factory: Blockchains as Launchpads

Want to create a coin in minutes? Some blockchains let you do just that. We’re talking tokens, not full blockchains. You don’t even need coding skills—copy-paste services exist online.

Ethereum’s Playground Ethereum dominates token launches. Shiba Inu, DAI, The Sandbox (SAND)—all born here. But it’s expensive to transact (those infamous gas fees).

Binance Smart Chain (BNB) Cheaper, faster, but centralized. Binance controls it, so you’re sacrificing decentralization for speed. Safemoon launched here in March 2021, hit $10.9B market cap by May, then crashed 99.9% to $3.3M. Now it’s facing Ponzi allegations and lawsuits with celebs like Jake Paul involved. Classic pump-and-dump.

Solana’s Promise Fast and cheap, but plagued by reliability issues and multiple outages. Still attracting new projects though.

The Brutal Truth: Why You Shouldn’t Chase New Coins

The Exit Liquidity Play When VCs fund a crypto startup, launch day is their first real chance to cash out. Insiders and early investors sell hard, leaving retail buyers holding the bag. You’re the exit liquidity, not the next investor.

Rug Pulls Are Rampant Developers hype a new token, then literally “pull the rug”—drain the liquidity and disappear. It’s happened so often it’s got a slang term. In crypto’s wild west with minimal regulation and anonymous founders, this is the baseline risk.

Most Are Outright Scams Launching a coin takes minutes now. Scammers exploit this. They make quick money while blockchain anonymity protects them. The few that moon (100x+ gains) get headlines and trigger FOMO, but those are statistical outliers among thousands of failures.

Code Vulnerabilities Per DAO Maker’s CEO, newly launched tokens often have buggy smart contracts. Hackers exploit these to steal funds. Unless a reputable third party audited the code independently, assume it’s risky.

The Bottom Line

Yes, some new coins succeed long-term (rare). But playing this game means accepting that you’re probably either getting exit-liquidity’d, rug-pulled, or hacked. The upside isn’t worth the downside unless you’re literally just gambling money you can afford to lose.