115+ Crypto Projects Failed in 2023’s Crypto Winter: Analyst Insights

RootData, a visual and structured crypto projects data provider, recently released a post unearthing the “dead” blockchain projects in 2023. The post, under the title “2023 Crypto Dead Projects List”, shared insights on the increasing number of crypto firms or projects that succumbs to failure.

Notably, the list includes more than 150 crypto projects that announced closure, entered bankruptcy or had websites that had been inactive for a long time. The major names included in the list are Prime Trust, Yield Protocol, Wyre, Multichain, and Clockwork. The report stated that the cumulative financing amount of these projects has reached around $940 million.

The blockchain-based payment platform Wyre shut down amidst the intensifying crypto winter in June 2023. Previously, in January, the employees of the platform were informed about the potential closure of the company as a result of Bolt Financial’s withdrawal from its decision to purchase Wyre.

The following month, the crypto project Multichain witnessed a major headwind with its founder, Zhaojun, arrested by the police and declared the platform’s closure. The arrest followed a series of mysterious hacks that amassed massive amounts of user assets.

Crypto Custodian Prime Trust announced bankruptcy in August 2023 following a series of financial challenges. In June, Nevada’s Department of Business and Industry released an official order citing the “considerably deteriorated” condition of Prime Trust, adding, “On or about June 21, 2023, Respondent’s [Prime Trust] was unable to honor customer withdrawals due to a shortfall of customer funds caused by a significant liability on the Respondent’s balance sheet owed to customers.”

August witnessed another major failure as the Solana-based smart contract automation project Clockwork proclaimed the platform’s decision to cease its development activities, citing “limited commercial upside.” Founder Nick Garfield also asserted that the on-chain programs will be closed.

DeFi lender Yield Protocol declared its closure in October 2023, suspending its borrowing and lending activities by the end of December. In a tweet, the platform asserted that the closure is mainly driven by regulatory insecurity and the lack of “sustainable demand for fixed-rate borrowing.”