Billions raised, still collapsed: how 12 star crypto projects ended
Top-tier VCs, billions in funding and big-tech backing did not keep these projects alive. This list covers only documented outcomes: bankruptcy, announced shutdown, or money returned to investors. Tokens that fell 90% but whose chains still run are not on the list; they get their own section further down.
Bankruptcy or liquidation
| Project | The halo at the time | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| FTX | Valued at ~$32B; backed by Sequoia, Temasek, SoftBank and others | Filed for bankruptcy on Nov 11, 2022, with a ~$8B hole in customer funds. Founder sentenced to 25 years |
| Celsius | Raised ~$750M in a 2021 Series B | Filed for bankruptcy in July 2022 with ~$4.7B in liabilities. Founder sentenced to 12 years in 2025 |
| BlockFi | Leading crypto lender, valued at ~$3B in 2021 | Filed for bankruptcy in November 2022 (hit by FTX). Eventually paid 100% of allowed claims |
| Voyager | Crypto broker listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange; Alameda was a major lender | Filed for bankruptcy in July 2022 with ~$1.3B in customer assets |
| Genesis | Lending arm of Digital Currency Group (DCG) | Filed for bankruptcy in January 2023; first distribution averaged ~64% recovery |
| Three Arrows Capital | One of the best-known crypto funds of the last bull market | Ordered into liquidation by a British Virgin Islands court in June 2022 |
| Terraform Labs | Developer of LUNA and UST; the ecosystem was once worth tens of billions | UST depegged and LUNA collapsed in May 2022; the company filed for bankruptcy in January 2024. Founder sentenced to 15 years in December 2025 |
Shut down or money returned
| Project | The halo at the time | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Diem (formerly Libra) | Led by Facebook (Meta); Visa and Mastercard were founding members | Stopped in January 2022; assets sold to Silvergate, which itself announced a wind-down in March 2023 |
| Telegram's TON | Raised ~$1.7B from investors in 2018 | Sued by the US SEC; abandoned in 2020 and returned ~$1.2B to investors. Today's TON is a separate project later taken over by the community |
| Basis | Raised ~$133M from a16z, Google Ventures and others | Shut down in December 2018 before launching; money returned to investors |
| Blast | Ethereum layer 2 backed by Paradigm; TVL topped $2.2B in 2024 | Announced shutdown on Oct 2, 2026: costs exceeded revenue with no sustainable path. TVL at shutdown was ~$32M, down ~98% |
| Movement Labs | Developer of a Move-based chain; raised tens of millions | The development company filed for bankruptcy in July 2026. Note: only the company filed; the network itself is run by a separate entity |
2026 brought many quieter closures too. One researcher counted at least 82 crypto projects that announced shutdowns this year through October, nine of which had each raised more than $50M. The list also includes Radiant Capital, Step Finance and Neon EVM.
How much creditors got back
Recoveries vary widely, depending on what assets were left and what could be clawed back. One more catch: in cases like FTX and Celsius, claims are fixed in US dollars on the day of the bankruptcy filing. FTX's ~119% looks generous, but bitcoin was around $16,000 in November 2022 and has since risen several-fold. In coin terms, customers who held bitcoin got back well under half.
Still alive, holders lost anyway
The projects above are easy to spot because their endings are clear. A more common and more overlooked case: the company still exists, the chain still produces blocks, the team still ships, yet holders keep losing.
Of the 30 tokens we track, 7 are down more than 90% against BTC over 3 years: DOT −90.7%, FIL −90.3%, ATOM −91.7%, GRT −92.3%, APT −95.6%, OP −96.9% and STRK −98.5% (since listing). None of them went bankrupt, and all are still running. In BTC terms, 1 unit held 3 years ago is now worth less than 0.1.
So "the project is alive" does not mean "the token is worth holding". That is the line on our homepage: a good project ≠ a valuable token ≠ a good price today.
Three things these cases show
- Backing only shows someone was willing to pay. FTX had Sequoia, Diem had Facebook, Basis had a16z. Investors can be wrong, and after investing they can't control how the money is spent.
- A company failing and a chain stopping are different things. In Movement Labs' case only the development company filed; the network continues. After Terra collapsed, the community launched a new chain. Read the news carefully to see who actually failed.
- Some risks don't show up in token data. FTX, Celsius and BlockFi failed on their balance sheets: misused customer funds, leverage, mismatched lending. You can't see that in token metrics; it takes audits, proof of reserves and regulatory filings.
Token-level risks can be seen early
For projects that are still running, several of our indicators flag risk in advance:
- ② supply growth and ③a unlocks: the faster new tokens arrive, the more new buying the price needs;
- ④ holder revenue and ⑥ buyback coverage: whether what the project earns reaches holders, and whether buybacks offset new supply;
- ⑦ market cap ÷ fees: whether people actually use and pay for it, and whether fees are rising or falling;
- ⑤ vs BTC: lagging BTC for years at least means holding BTC would have been better.
One red indicator on its own doesn't mean trouble is coming. Several getting worse at the same time is worth taking seriously.
Read this article with care
- These are hand-picked failures. The list only includes projects that already failed, so it can't tell you what share of projects fail.
- Recovery figures come from each case's distribution notices and related reporting. Celsius and Voyager have no official final figures yet; we will update them.
- Sentences listed are public court outcomes only.
- This is not financial advice.
Sources
- Blast shutdown: CryptoSlate, ForkLog
- Movement Labs bankruptcy: CoinDesk
- 82 shutdowns in 2026: Cointelegraph, CCN
- Creditor recoveries: The Block (BlockFi), Dropstab overview
- Celsius founder sentencing: NBC News; Terra founder sentencing: NBC News
- Telegram TON refund: US SEC press release
- Vs-BTC data: TokenWorth data of 2026-10-25, ⑤ on each token page
Update log: 2026-11-02 first published.