Top Crypto Projects We Believed in that Are Now Dead Coins By

• Cryptocurrencies that have been abandoned or no longer exist are often referred to as dead coins
• Dead coin trackers consider a project with less than a $1,000 trading volume in three months an abandoned project
• BitCoin Killer, OneCoin, turned out to be a Ponzi scheme that duped users of over $4 billion

The crypto space is growing at a remarkable rate, with new projects launched all the time. As of October 29, CoinMarketCap tracks the data of over 13,300 crypto projects. More than 2,000 of these projects fall into a category known as dead coins.

What Are Dead Coins?

Dead coins refer to cryptocurrencies that have been abandoned and no longer exist. These projects were either used as a scam, ran low on liquidity, or had their developers flee from the project.

The number of dead coins spiked in 2017 when every business thought it was best to launch an initial coin offering (ICO). In 2017 alone, approximately $4.9 billion was raised via ICOs. However, 80% of all 2017 ICOs turned out to be scams.

While there is an astonishing amount of cryptocurrencies that now offer zero value and utility, today, we will be looking at some dead coins that were once popular before their inevitable demise.

Top Dead Coins

OneCoin was a Ponzi scheme promoted as a cryptocurrency by Bulgaria-based offshore company OneCoin Ltd. Launched in 2014, OneCoin was promoted by the self-acclaimed “CryptoQueen,” Ruja Ignatova. From an all-time high of $0.02, OneCoin is now valued at $0.0008661.

OneCoin gained such a following because it was touted as a “ Killer.” The project involved using the money from new investors to pay returns to the existing ones. In the end, users lost over $4 billion to the Ponzi scheme.

Gem Coin (GEM) is one of the more unique scams. The founder alleged that the virtual gem coins (similar to NFTs today) were backed by real gems mined by his company, U.S. Fine Investment Arts, Inc. (USFIA). He also alleged that the virtual gems could be traded on the USFIA platform.

The value of the virtual coins supposedly increased as the company’s gemstone sales increased. In reality, USFIA did not own any gemstone mines. Steve Chen, the mastermind behind the project, was charged with a $147 million scam. From an ATH of $0.06153, GEM now trades at $0.0003183.

Following the concept of precious stones, in 2015, Daniel Peled launched GetGems. Unlike Gems, GetGems was a social messaging app that allowed people to send and receive Bitcoin.

At its 2015 ICO, GetGems raised $1 million through crowdfunding and direct investment. The project failed to deliver on its promise of invigorating the social media realm. The project lost momentum, and even though it is still operating today, most of its initial objectives have been dropped.

PayCoin, one of the earliest crypto projects, is another respectable dead coin. In 2014, crypto miners Josh Garza and GAW launched PayCoin as an upgrade to…