Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, trades at 17,764.40 US dollars at the time of writing this article. Yes, that’s per single Bitcoin. 

It seems every few months, a new crypto coin enters the market. Everyone is looking for that Bitcoin success. Or, they’re looking to take advantage of it. There have been countless crypto scams and flops.

While some cryptos have had successful IPOs, many others have suffered painful failures. Keep reading for the top 10 failed crypto coin ICOs. 

1. Bitconnect

Bitconnect is the first on the list because it was one of the most public flops of all the crypto coin fails. Many people accuse this coin of being a Ponzi scheme because of its multi-level marketing (otherwise known as a pyramid scheme).

Bitconnect came out to the public in 2016. The premise of their company was for coin holders to be able to lend out their shares with the promise of a return in interest.

Through Bitconnet, users traded their Bitcoins, which are highly valued, for Bitconnect coins. They promised gains as interest on the loan accumulated.

Bitconnect calculated their interest payouts via a “Bitconnect Bot.” They issued payouts at a fraction of the rise and fall of Bitcoin on the stock market and were susceptible to an interest-earning cap. 

Eventually, disgruntled users started to complain there was a lack of transparency in how they calculated interest payments exactly. Eventually, unsurprisingly, the company was sued multiple times and the government froze their assets. 

2. Bitcoin Diamond

Bitcoin Diamond may have started innocently enough. However, its use-case was elusive, and eventually, it was subject to online scammers. Bitcoin Diamond started as a stem from Bitcoin. Though it had marked differences from its parent coin, the price of Bitcoin Diamond has dropped over 100% since its first public appearance.

Part of the reason we consider Bitcoin Diamond a fail is because of the many scammer applications of the crypto. Some websites emerged that claimed to exchange other cryptocurrencies for Bitcoin Diamond. However, those sites turned out to be stealing users' money.

Users’ lack of trust toward currency exchange caused the crypto to fall out of popularity. 

3. XEM (NEM)

The New Economy Movement (NEM) launched its blockchain in 2016. They developed the cryptocurrency on an open-source platform, which immediately boosted its popularity. 

Though the currency is successful now, in 2018 it suffered a large fail when a Coincheck (a Chinese currency exchange company) reported that over 20 million dollars in XEM was stolen. 

XEM suffered a major loss of users and popularity. 

4. Ripple (XRP)

Ripple is another cryptocurrency with promising beginnings. Yet, they were unable to keep the momentum going. When going public, Ripple found that they couldn’t compete with other cryptocurrencies on the market. 

Since beginning trading, Ripple has lost over 40%. It’s no surprise they’ve not been as successful as their top competitor, Bitcoin.

In 2018, a lawsuit claimed the company was selling unregistered coins and creating a never-ending supply of coins. Though that method might keep their product in circulation, it proved to decrease its value. 

5. Universa

This Russian crypto coin began its short time in the spotlight with a not-so-meager 28 million dollars in initial coin sales. Not only did the company do well with sales, but they were also gearing up for the future. 

Soon after having a successful initial coin sale, they partnered with a local Russian bank. Things were looking up for the company by all accounts. However, knowledge of disagreements between the company’s executives became public knowledge. 
Once their dirty laundry was out in the open, the coin dropped so significantly that HitBTC (a respected crypto exchange platform) delisted the currency. 

6. IOTA (MIOTA)

In 2016, IOTA went live with 500,000 US dollars donated to its cause. The company started with a fixed amount of tokens, which helps maintain their value. The currency has suffered rises and falls throughout its creation, like any other cryptocurrency.

 However, in the past two years, the company has failed to take advantage of a want in the market for new cryptocurrencies to buy. In 2018, the company lost 1 billion dollars in value. Unfortunately, 2019 wasn’t any better. 

It seems this crypto coin is on the decline. 

7. Quantum (QTUM)

Quantum is a public access blockchain that is secure and simple to use. Their business model targeted mostly large businesses. However, despite open source code and all the ingredients for a successful launch, QTUM went down almost 98% in 2018.

Of all the cryptocurrency losses in 2018, Quantum suffered the most. 

8. Waves (WAVES)

At the end of beta testing, Waves was making waves (pun intended). They started with a 6 million dollar transaction day. They quickly started gaining traction, mostly due to their easy to use interface and fast transactions. 

However, after the first year and a half of beta testing, they decided to launch their entire program. Only, they were immediately hacked. It turned out their easy interface not only made it simple for users but also simple for hackers to get into. 

9. SpaceBit

SpaceBit promised to be the most exciting cryptocurrency of all time. They spoke of launching satellites into space that would allow access to crypto coin blockchains for everyone around the world.

They did the media circuit, they got everyone hyped up, and then nothing happened. SpaceBit might be the ultimate fail because it never even made it to a demo launch. 

10. DogeCoin

Another crowd favorite, DogeCoin started as a joke. However, as fans flocked to the cute dog logo, it became a real crypto coin to exchange. 

Most famously, the DogeCoin user community raised enough money in 2014 to send a Jamaican bobsled team to the winter Olympics. But the crypto coin miracle came to a screeching halt when it ran out of money.

The company founder decided to end all exchanges of the currency and essentially ran off with the money. Since then, DogeCoin is all but completely dead. 

What Crypto Coin Will You Bet On?

The options for crypto coins are limitless. It seems like no matter how good the market looks for one company, it can all come crashing down in a matter of days.

Crypto coin follows its own rules when it comes to what makes them work. Deciding where to put your money is the ultimate gamble. 

Read the latest about bitcoin predictions:  Will bitcoin be Traded at $318,000 by 2021?