There are more than 15,000 crypto startups globally. However, only a few startups get the desired success. There are right and wrong moves that separate successful crypto projects from unsuccessful ones.
When starting a new crypto startup, business leaders hope to make the most of the crypto boom that fuelled the rise of digital assets globally. From touching a $3 trillion market cap to a 187.5% growth in market cap from 2020 to 2021, the crypto market has seen overwhelming success in the last 12 months. Several successful crypto startups have emerged during this period, and many of them have attained the desired success. However, the chances of survival in the highly competitive crypto market totally depend on project use cases, tokenomics, team strength, and cash inflow. One can easily chart a solid strategy by analyzing some of the most successful crypto projects globally.
Majority Of Crypto Startups Fail
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin predicted in 2017 that 90% of token startups will fail. According to CB Insights, 70% of upstart tech companies fail nearly 20 months after first raising financing. 20% of startups fail by the end of the first year of their operation. Despite the overwhelming success of the crypto industry in 2021, 4 major startups in the space closed down. These startups were 37Coins, Koinex, Graphite Docs, and Phez. Lack of funds and business model were the key reasons contributing to the failure of these startups. Emerging startups can take a cue from here to avoid the fatal mistakes committed by these startups. At the same time, it is also important to learn from successful crypto projects to achieve success.
Here’s an infographic to explain better the most common reasons behind startup failures globally.
Source: Failory
Recipe For Success
There are hundreds of successful crypto startups that have provided both institutional and retail investors with amazing returns. But to do an analysis, let’s analyze some of the most successful crypto projects from 2021.
- BENQI: BENQI is a decentralized non-custodial liquidity market protocol on the Avalanche blockchain. The platform offers lending and borrowing services with liquid staking in development. The native token of BENQI is QI.
Token Use Cases: Holders can participate in the protocol’s governance, and users can stake QI in the safety module in exchange for a portion of the protocol reserves.
Numbers:
Date of Lanch: 15/12/2021
M-cap Before Listing: $4,53,60
M-cap At The Time Of Listing: $1,62,000
Current M-cap: $4,306,306
Volume: $13,825,977
Circulating Supply: 325,692,000 QI
Maximum Supply: 7,200,000,000 QI
ROI: 580%
Tokenomics, Source: Binance
- Celo: Celo is a mobile-first payment platform that allows users to send and receive cryptocurrencies through their mobile numbers. Clearly, being the first-of-its-kind project has helped Celo capture the market with minimum competition. But is that it?
Highlights Of The Project
- Celo supports several FIAT-backed stablecoins. This makes it easier for users to use Celo as a payment method.
- Celo allows seamless transfer of crypto assets between contacts through phone numbers.
- Users can pay transaction fees in any of the stablecoins supported by Celo.
- Fast and secure synchronization between mobile devices.
- Quick updates through on-chain governance.
- A programmable smart contract that is fully compatible with Ethereum.
- Users have complete control over their funds and private key.
Numbers:
Date of Launch: 27/12/2021
M-cap Before Listing: $41,040,000
M-cap At The Time of Listing: $64,963,068
Current M-cap: $592,428,986
Volume: $49,727,380
Circulating Supply: 445,012,828 CELO
ROI: 215%
Token Allocation
- Staking & Validator Rewards: 30%
- Community Grants: 19.5%
- Protocol Contributors: 18.5%
- Pre-launch Sales Purchasers: 12.5%
- Initial Reserve: 12%
- Operational Grants: 7.5%
Source: Wealth Education
- Voxies: Voxies is a blockchain-based free-to-play, 3D turn-based tactical RPG game. It is a team-based game where players can control multiple characters. Voxies represent these characters in the game. The Voxies are either owned directly as NFTs or provided by the game for free-to-play players. The native token of Voxies is $VOXEL.
Token Use Case
- Voxel is the in-game currency that can be used in the marketplace to purchase equipment, NFT items, and characters.
Numbers:
Date of Launch: 14/12/2021
M-cap Before Listing: $10,000,000
M-cap At The Time of Listing: $11,489,837
Current M-cap: $35,939,880
Volume: $19,846,400
Circulating Supply: 64,021,081
ROI: 759%
Voxies has a clearly laid out roadmap until 2023 with a planned integration with the Sandbox Land in Q4 2022, following the release of the mobile version.
Token Allocation
Source: Binance
Token Release Schedule
Source: Binance
- Kryptomon: An NFT Play-and-Earn game where Pokemon meets Tamagotchi and CryptoKitties. The game is set in the Kryptomon metaverse, where community members play as ‘Trainers’ of their monsters.
The project’s launch follows two successful NFT egg sales on Binance NFT.
Number
Date Of Launch: 15/08/2021
M-cap Before Listing: $1,365,000
M-cap At The Time of Listing: $585,420
Current M-cap: $4,203,726
Volume: $142,026
Circulating Supply: 189,843,488.45 KMON
ROI: 438%
So what are the common factors among all of the aforementioned projects?
- Strong Tokenomics
- Strong Team of Experts
- Clearly-defined Use Cases
- Well-planned Token Allocation
- Strategic Roadmap
Emerging startups need to work on all these factors while building a strong product. Trends show a slight decline in funding trends in 2022 in comparison to 2021. It might be due to a prolonged bear market. But, bull and bear cycles are here to stay. In the long run, only strong projects can survive. Rest can only sustain till they run out of cash. This analysis might help crypto entrepreneurs figure out what needs to be done to place their projects among the top 10%.