Nearly half of the cryptocurrencies offered through initial coin offerings in 2017 has already failed, a study by news.Bitcoin.com showed.
Of the 902 crowdsales that took place last year, 142 failed at the funding stage and further 276 failed afterwards, either due to money grab or by slowly fading into obscurity, the cryptocurrency news website said, citing data from ICO tracker, Tokendata.
"This means that 46 percent of last year's ICOs have already failed," the site said.
The study also classified 113 ICOs as "semi-failed" either due to stoppage of communication by their teams on social media or the community was small to survive.
This means, 59 percent or 531 of last year's ICOs are either confirmed failures or failures-in-the-making. Last year's ICOs raised a total of over $233 million. Projects such as Clitcoin and Zero Traffic never took off and in most cases, investors were able to spot the signs and steer clear, news.Bitcoin.com said.
"With ICO mania showing no signs of abating, there's no reason to expect this year's crowdsales to fare any better," the website said.
"Thanks to diminished returns, increased competition, and a never-ending stream of opportunistic ICOs, crypto investing in 2018 is riskier than ever."
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