More than 600,000 new cryptocurrencies were created in 2026, most of which were merely for testing ideas or to gain short-term attention.

According to a report by Finbold, CoinMarketCap data shows that as of January 12, 2026, the total number of cryptocurrencies tracked was 29.91 million. This represents an increase of approximately 620,000 assets from 29.29 million on January 1st. Over the past 30 days, more than 1.57 million new cryptocurrencies were added, with 357,773 added in the past 7 days alone. The report states that launching a new token is low-cost and requires no coding, typically only a wallet and minimal transaction fees. Many tokens are created to test ideas or gain short-term attention rather than to build long-term infrastructure, which inflates the total number of tokens. However, most assets experience price crashes shortly after launch or fail due to insufficient liquidity, poor utility, or waning interest.