My each day routine at the moment seems like this: get up, brush my enamel, eat breakfast, examine a brand new metaverse or NFT undertaking, get confused, query life selections, sleep, repeat.
With all of the chatter round hyped web3 tasks in all places you look — from metaverses to NFT marketplaces — it received me pondering: what number of cryptocurrencies exist proper now?
You would possibly already know that in addition to the OGs Bitcoin and Ether, a number of extra currencies exist. There’s not a definitive quantity, however listed here are some figures value contemplating:
- Coinbase, one of many greatest exchanges, at the moment tracks 9,494 currencies.
- CoinMarketCap (CMC), a cryptocurrency worth monitoring web site, exhibits on high that there are 17,543 cryptocurrencies on the market, however lists 9,358 on its index.
- CoinGecko, one other worth tracker, lists 12,563 cryptocurrencies.
- TokenSniffer, a hack coin scanning web site, has traditionally detected 1,210,508 tokens (it scans totally different blockchains to ‘sniff’ out all new tokens) — out of which greater than 82,000 mainly a rip-off.
How do these trackers even hold observe of cryptocurrencies?
The parents at CoinGecko informed me there are greater than 500,000 crypto tokens on the market. However most of them are out of circulation, or just spam. So that they don’t have to listing them.
CoinGecko’s product, referred to as GeckoTerminal, scans totally different blockchains and exchanges to verify all cash and their costs are up-to-date. Plus, all listings are manually vetted, so there are not any rip-off cash listed on the location.

CoinMarketCap has a barely totally different methodology. It gives a kind to neighborhood members or undertaking managers to submit a request for his or her token or forex to be added to the listing.
The agency checks a number of parameters equivalent to buying and selling quantity, neighborhood engagement, workforce, and undertaking longevity. You may examine the total itemizing standards right here.

So are all these cash legit?
Not likely. CoinMarketCap stated that it’s straightforward to create a token and listing it on centralized exchanges equivalent to SushiSwap or UniSwap with out a lot effort. Should you actually wish to know what number of tokens are added each day, TokenFomo lists all tokens deployed within the final 24 hours on main blockchains.
For extra context, a web site like ListingSpy, builders have added greater than 50 tokens in simply the final 15 days. It’s arduous to make certain if all these tasks and tokens are the actual deal.
A whole lot of these tokens have an total commerce quantity of just some hundred {dollars} — meaning there’s hardly any exercise, and also you would possibly wish to steer clear of that undertaking.
Plus, instruments like TokenSniffer, BSC Test, StaySafu, and RugDog provide help to in evaluating the dangers of a brand new token and establish scams.
Given the fast fee of recent tasks being added on totally different blockchains each second, it’s arduous to maintain up with the variety of cryptocurrencies on the market within the wild.
So, it’s vital to analysis tasks and take a look at sources on trusted exchanges earlier than investing. You wouldn’t need your flight to the moon to finish in a nasty crash.