The Life and Death of 2021's Star Projects: Who Remains from the Frenzy of Investments?
The article "2021 Star Projects: Survival or Demise? Who's Left from the Heavily Funded Craze?" reflects on the crypto boom of 2021, a year marked by record-breaking valuations, massive NFT sales, and a wave of venture capital flooding into Web3 projects. That year, crypto startups raised $25.2 billion—a 713% increase from 2020. However, four years later, most of the top 400 highly-funded projects have collapsed or become inactive.
Notable failures include centralized finance platforms like FTX, which raised $1.32 billion before its fraudulent collapse in 2022, and Celsius Network, which promised high yields but saw its token plummet 99.73%. Other lending platforms like BlockFi and Voyager Digital also crumbled during the liquidity crisis.
NFT and metaverse projects, once hyped as revolutionary, largely failed. Axie Infinity, which raised $159.5 million, saw its token drop 99.49% as its play-to-earn economy proved unsustainable. The Sandbox, a metaverse project that raised $93 million, now sits mostly empty despite initial land sales.
The piece concludes that most projects were products of a speculative bubble, with less than 5% creating lasting value. As a new cycle begins, it questions which of today’s projects will survive when the hype recedes.
marsbit12/24 07:29
