ChainCatcher reported that a research note from Blockworks Research found that, among 1,972 tokens that first exceeded a $50 million circulating market capitalization between January 2020 and December 2025, only 4.1% had outperformed Bitcoin as of June 2026. When the sample was limited to tokens with at least 24 months of historical data, the figure fell to 1.7%.
The report said the median token across the full sample had lost 97% since entering the study.
A wider base and a thinner top
Blockworks Research said the token market has taken on a pyramid structure with a broader base and a thinner top. The number of tokens with market capitalizations above $1 million reached a record 3,648 in December 2024, but the tier above $250 million has been contracting since topping out in November 2021.
As of June 2026, only 102 tokens remained above the $250 million threshold, about one-third of the 279 recorded in November 2021.
Most earlier Bitcoin outperformers gave back those gains
Among the 187 tokens that outperformed Bitcoin during the 2020-2021 bull market, 86.1% later fell at least 90% from their November 2021 highs. The report said only OKB continued to outperform Bitcoin.
Newer token cohorts weakened over time
The report also found that token performance deteriorated more quickly over time. Of the tokens issued in 2024, 86% fell below 10% of their initial price within 24 months. For tokens issued in 2020, the comparable figure was 18%.
For tokens launched after 2023, the median peak reached only 0.93x the entry price, meaning the median token never traded above its entry level. For 2020 tokens, the median peak reached 5.1x the entry price.
Exchange tokens stood out
According to the report, exchange tokens were the only category meaningfully overrepresented among long-term Bitcoin outperformers. The tokens named were BNB, OKB, GT, LEO, BGB, WBT, MX and CAKE from PancakeSwap.
The report said these tokens shared one feature: fee revenue used for regular buybacks and burns.
The authors said the crypto market is shifting away from broad token expansion toward a structure driven by a smaller group of higher-quality assets.