It’s hard to put a finger on the precise point at which token overload kicked in. Token fatigue has been brewing for some time, as the spate of new coins, mostly launched by ICOs, has turned into an unstoppable torrent. Every day, cryptocurrency exchanges are barraged with listing applications by ICOs, and they do their best to keep up, for the projects’ sake, and for the community’s, and because listing tokens is a lucrative business. But at its current rate, the trend is surely unsustainable.
Also read: IMF Says Bitcoin Could Create Less Demand for Regular Debt-based Fiat Money
We’ve Past the Point of Peak Token
There comes a point at which the crypto community is entitled to ponder how much is too much? How many tokens does there need to be before everyone is sated? From a technical perspective, that point might arrive when all the available three-letter token abbreviations have been used up, which will arrive around the time that the crypto space births its 17,000th altcoin. Then again, there are already multiple tokens sharing the same three-letter ticker, causing no end of confusion on sites like Coinmarketcap. There are also tokens claiming four- and five-letter abbreviations, suggesting that a shortage of desirable tickers won’t be enough to curtail the madness.
Besides, traders don’t want an end to new tokens altogether; new additions that add genuine utility and which create demand will always be welcomed. It’s the other 90% added to exchanges that leave a lot to be desired. These shitcoins, for want of a better name, have little if any real world usage, and do little more than drain liquidity from exchanges, as traders’ portfolios become increasingly stretched. Even on Binance, one of the world’s most liquid crypto exchanges, the near-daily
