5 crypto fails of 2018

Recalling some of the biggests crypto busts that have made their way into headlines during 2018

Let’s face it, most cryptocurrency or blockchain projects will end up failing before they even launch. As discouraging as this fact may seem, it hasn’t stopped countless projects from trying their hand at becoming a legitimate force within the cryptocurrency market. As such, there have been many projects that have emerged within this past year and failed, some in pretty spectacular fashion as well. So let’s go over five of some of the most catastrophic crypto fails that we’ve seen in 2018.

This is not financial investment advice.
This article will discuss how five crypto projects failed in their attempt at achieving success.

Verge Wraith Protocol

First on our list of crypto fails is Verge and the development of their Wraith protocol. While Verge’s major development was slated to launch towards the end of 2017, several delays pushed the actual release of the development into early January of this year. While supporters and speculators patiently waited with excitement to see all that this would entail, most were left disappointed with what was put forth by the developers.

Although Wraith does offer compelling feature best described by “optional privacy,” the protocol’s attempt at providing anonymity remained questionable at best. So what? All they did was underwhelm their supporters by not fully satisfying their expectations. Well, as it turns out, that wasn’t all the damage that would be done. It was also revealed that some of Verge’s code base was copied from OpalCoin, which is a pet project created by 14-year-old cryptocurrency developer Whit Jack. Since recording a high of just under 1,500 Satoshi in early January, XVG has dropped by over 70% against Bitcoin.

Moirai

Moirai was in the process of launching an ICO when it all went downhill for them. However, they aren’t just another failed ICO that left the space without any tangible progress. In this case, it was the way in which they exited that left their supporters, investors, and even speculators baffled. The platform got screwed up by the ICO advertising company which, as Moirai claims, “took investors money and refuse to refund back.”

People don’t really care whether something went wrong in the company or with their partners. In fact, the Moirai case demonstrates just that. Even though (as company claims) the ICO’s epic fail was not their direct fault, customers and investors still naturally accuse the platform of fraud. No one cares about the explanation after the offering is dead and money is lost. As a result, Morai completely failed and lost all of its investors’ money and support.

CryptoCopy

Next on our list of crypto fails is the project CryptoCopy. This project sought to optimize the investment process by storing the contact information about the successful investors and monitoring every made transaction with the smart contract. Of course, this ICO was doomed from the very beginning and ended up failing in its attempt to raise money.

What makes this fail so significant is that there were so many red flags which should’ve been noted by anyone who wanted to invest. The fact that the ICO was founded by Igor Manjencic, the same person who has created another failed ICO RICH Coin, should’ve already had people doubt whether or not this project could stick it through. Most active users were promised to receive 10% of the platform’s profit but actually got left with nothing. The worst part about it is that all the alarming signs were really on the surface and could’ve been easily spotted in time.

Waltonchain

Moving on, let’s talk about a project that seemingly causes its own demise: Waltonchain. After someone behind the Waltonchain Twitter account forgot to switch accounts when responding as the “winner” to a Valentine’s Day giveaway, the entire crypto industry entered a frenzy as WTC ousted itself for rigging a giveaway. Although it has been proven that a majority of the other winners were real, the implications behind the scandal are massive. In fact, WTC’s price dropped by more than 20% in the day following the tweet.

Unfortunately, this was not the end of the fail. On March 6, an apparent partnership with Chinese corporate giant Alibaba was announced which helped the price recover to a value greater than that prior to the giveaway tweet. However, after significant discussion within the community regarding the legitimacy of the news, official announcements were deleted. Once again, the price for the coin began to drop and since then has never seen the same.

Askfm

You may be wondering why Askfm ended up on this list as they aren’t even a blockchain-based project or have much to do with cryptocurrency at all. Yet, their involvement in promoting an ICO went so horribly wrong, that it definitely deserved a spot as one of 2018’s most unfortunate crypto fails. As it turned out, the idea of promoting an ICO by sending crypto enthusiasts to Mt. Everest is not the safest version of a PR stunt.

The plan seemed pretty awesome until one of the enthusiasts unfortunately died on the expedition. Of course, it killed the reputation of cryptocurrency and became a valuable lesson in how not to build a communication strategy.

Conclusion

There’s definitely no shame in failing when it comes to trying to be successful in the cryptocurrency industry, but you shouldn’t be left with a death count for all your troubles. Some crypto projects end up failing so bad, that they ruin all and any credibility which they may have had to start other projects in the future. As time progresses, we shouldn’t be seeing any shortage of more crypto fails to come, so be alert and make sure you don’t end up like any of the investors who lost everything by involving themselves in a doomed project.

How do you make sure that a crypto project isn’t bound to fail in the future? Let us know why in the comments!