The cryptocurrency market witnessed an unprecedented surge in new token issuance in January 2025, setting an all-time high and sparking concerns about investor liquidity and market fragmentation.
Over 600K New Cryptos Minted in January 2025
According to data from GeckoTerminal, more than 600,000 new cryptocurrencies were launched in the month, marking a staggering 12-fold increase compared to the same period in 2024.
Bobby Ong, co-founder and COO of CoinGecko, highlighted this explosive growth in a series of posts on X, stating that the pace of new token creation is accelerating at an unprecedented rate.
“Back in 2022-2023, around 50,000 new tokens were minted every month. Fast forward to Q4 2024, and we’re seeing 400,000 new tokens per month—with January 2025 hitting a record 600,000 new tokens created per month,” he wrote.
Why Is Token Creation Surging?
Ong attributed this rapid increase to several key factors, including the emergence of new token incubators like Pump.fun, which make it easier than ever to launch a cryptocurrency.
Additionally, he noted that the barriers to entry for token creation have significantly decreased, leading to a trend where “if it can be tokenized, it will be tokenized.”
Memecoins have played a major role in this token explosion, with instant tokenization becoming the new norm in the space.
Market participants have shown a growing appetite for speculative assets, leading to a flood of new tokens with little to no utility beyond generating hype and short-term gains.
But it’s not just tokens that are seeing a boom. Ong pointed out that the entire crypto ecosystem, including blockchain networks and DEXes, is expanding rapidly. “We now track 209 chains, 1,450 DEXes, and nearly 5.5 million tokens,” he stated.
Also Read: Coinbase Faces Bitcoin Liquidity Crisis As SEC’s Cumberland Lawsuit Emerges
He also noted that 5-10 new blockchain networks launch every month, with a record 17 new chains appearing in May 2024 alone. Meanwhile, 89 new DEXes were introduced in March 2024, further fragmenting liquidity across the market.
The Liquidity Problem
Despite the rapid increase in token creation, liquidity has remained stagnant. Ong warned that the sheer number of new tokens is stretching the attention and capital of traders thin.
“Too many tokens, each spreading the limited attention and liquidity of traders even thinner. That’s why we don’t see the great alt pumps of previous cycles,” he explained.
This liquidity fragmentation has prevented the kind of massive price surges seen in past bull markets. Instead of value building around a few high-quality projects, traders are now spread across millions of different tokens, many of which lack strong fundamentals or real utility.
One Billion Tokens by 2030?
At the current pace, the cryptocurrency industry could surpass one billion tokens within the next five years, according to Ong.
He emphasized the importance of infrastructure capable of tracking this explosion in token issuance, stating that CoinGecko and GeckoTerminal are actively working on solutions to monitor and analyze the growing number of digital assets.
With the rise of low-friction tokenization and memecoin mania, the crypto landscape is evolving rapidly. However, the challenge remains in ensuring that this growth does not come at the expense of market stability and investor confidence.
Also Read: Japan’s Govt Cautious on Bitcoin Reserves Amid Uncertainty, Prioritizes Safety and Liquidity