The list includes some prominent names in the industry, such as Prime Trust, Yield Protocol, Wyre, Multichain, and Clockwork, among others. A total of 116 crypto projects that either declared bankruptcy or announced their closure during 2023 are featured on RootData’s comprehensive list, all of which have also had inactive online resources for an extended period.
The latter half of 2023 was undoubtedly the most challenging period, marked by numerous high-profile debacles and fiascos.
One notable closure occurred in late June when the Wyre payment platform was forced to shut down due to the ramifications of the crypto winter and Bolt Financial’s refusal to acquire it. Shortly thereafter, in July, Multichain went bankrupt following the arrest of its founder and a series of hacking incidents.
In August 2023, financial troubles led to the declaration of bankruptcy by Crypto Custodian Prime Trust, a prominent custodial service. Simultaneously, the Solana blockchain-based smart contract automation project, Clockwork, also ceased operations due to its perceived “limited commercial potential.”
Yield Protocol, a decentralized finance (DeFi) crypto lending platform, became the latest casualty in October, citing a combination of regulatory uncertainty and a diminishing demand for fixed-rate borrowing as the reasons behind its closure.
Analysts at RootData highlight that the total funding allocated to these failed projects exceeded a staggering $940 million.
Previously, David Marcus, the former president of PayPal, cautioned that it will take a considerable amount of time to rebuild user trust in the crypto industry, predicting that the crypto winter will persist until at least 2025.