- 72 of the top 100 cryptocurrencies remain over 50% below their all-time highs.
- XRP has surged 327% year-to-date despite the broader market’s weakness.
- Nearly 1.8 million crypto projects have failed in 2025, marking the worst year for shutdowns.
Galaxy Research has revealed that most major cryptocurrencies remain significantly below their all-time highs, highlighting the market’s slow recovery since the 2021 bull run. Out of the top 100 digital assets, 72 remain more than 50% under their record peaks.
Tokens such as Filecoin (FIL), The Graph (GRT), and Internet Computer (ICP) have seen some of the steepest declines, dropping between 80% and 95%. Other major names, including Polkadot (DOT), Avalanche (AVAX), and Cardano (ADA), also remain far from recovery.
In contrast, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), and LEO Token have been relatively resilient, standing within 30% of their all-time highs. This reflects a growing divide between established large-cap assets and smaller, speculative projects that continue to lose traction.
Galaxy’s findings suggest that much of the losses stemmed from recent liquidation events, which alone wiped out more than half of the total market decline.
XRP Leads with 327% YTD Gain Amid Selective Recovery
Among the bright spots within the current market, XRP has been one of the leaders, registering a staggering 327% growth this year. Currently, it is trading only 40% below its previous peak, indicating huge market confidence despite the weakness within the market.
It can be seen that the performance of XRP is quite notable when compared alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum, as these two have managed to sustain steady growth throughout this year, and this has been reinforced by their growing acceptance by institutions and supportive regulations that have been inclined.
But Galaxy Research indicates that despite these improvements, most cryptocurrencies have yet to recover half of their losses since 2021. Many of these mid- and low-cap altcoins have struggled to create demand as investors turn their attention towards projects that have a proven revenue stream, utility, and development activity on the network.
Mass Project Failures Signal Crypto Market Saturation
To make matters worse for the market, a report by CoinGecko indicated that close to 1.8 million cryptocurrency projects had failed in 2025 alone, marking a record number of failing projects within a year. These projects made up 49.7% of all failed projects from 2021 to 2025.
It follows an influx of speculative launches that took place during this year, 2024, registering more than 3 million tokens that lacked sustainability.
Taiki Maeda, of research firm Taiki Maeda Research, forecasts a K-shaped recovery, and only the strongest cryptos, such as BTC, ETH, SOL, and BNB, have a bright future ahead of them. There could be some decrease, such as overvalued gaming, memecoin, and AI tokens, due to oversupply and lack of trust on the part of investors as it moves into 2026.
Also Read: Could the crypto ecosystem deal with a bear market later this year?
