Ever since the 2013 boom in the price of Bitcoin, the crypto Market has been ravaged by thousands of cryptocurrencies. Although each of these assets exists in different forms or categories. One of the categories is Shitcoins. According to our findings, shitcoins are cryptocurrencies with little or no market value. In most cases, these kinds of tokens have no significant purpose they are serving, nor do they have any reasonable demand. People only believe they are valuable because they exist. This thus means their value is driven by mere speculation.

It is not in doubt that shitcoins have little or no utility. This thus means their little market value can sometimes be more volatile than other kinds of cryptocurrencies. We can say Shitcoins are high-risk investments for those dabbling or with the intention to dabble into it. Most of the tokens that fall into this category struggle for listings on notable crypto exchanges across the globe. They also endure poor trading volume, thereby becoming vulnerable to control and pump-and-dump schemes. Although, the fact that they lack a reasonable market value does not make them completely useless. Today, some investors still see future opportunities in investing in many of these shitcoins.

How to identify Shitcoins

Identifying shitcoins is not a big deal. They usually come with numerous traits that make it easy for investors or potential investors to identify them. For the purpose of this article, the following constitutes the various signs of shitcoins:

Poor market Cap

Unlike notable tokens with great market caps, shitcoins endure poor market capitalization. Occasioned by this development, small investors of the tokens are usually able to abruptly manipulate their prices so as to mislead people into patronizing the tokens.

No Defined Purposes

In most cases, shitcoins lack clearly-determined objectives. For any crypto to thrive, it must have a primary purpose that is clearly defined and spelt out. Bitcoin, for instance, runs to enable decentralized payment in a secure, trustless and transparent network. Certainly, most shitcoins lack these purposes.

Examples of Shitcoins

LUNC

Initially, the token wasn’t designed to be a family member of shitcoins. Things changed suddenly for the token when the Terra Community fell apart due to the controversies surrounding the project and its co-founder Do Kwon. After the crash of LUNA and UST, LUNC came into life as a result of the implementation of Terra Ecosystem Revival Plan 2. The purpose of the plan is to split the current blockchain through forking, and create a new chain in the ecosystem while keeping the previous chain.

According to the plan, the existing chain and token were rebranded as Terra Classic. Consequently, holders of LUNA and UST before their crash received the new LUNC tokens through an airdrop campaign. Above all, the Terra team intended to reward those who lost their funds in the crash of LUNA and UST with the new token. However, the coin has failed to live up to expectations. 

OneCoin

OneCoin is another failed crypto project that defrauded many of their funds. Dr. Ruja Ignatova founded the project in 2014, labeling it as the next big thing in crypto after BTC. The project gained prominence among crypto enthusiasts as the team behind it employed some multi-level marketing (MLM) techniques. Indeed, the token almost proved to be the next big thing after BTC. As of June 2016, the token already has a market capitalization worth more than half of BTC’s. 

At the height of its success, OneCoin had the second-largest market cap behind BTC. Meanwhile, numerous financial institutions and government agencies warned about the project. According to several reports, the project defrauded investors by more than $5 billion. To date, Dr. Ruja Ignatova is nowhere to be found, thus making the list of notable shitcoins around.

DogeCoin

Also, Dogecoin is regarded by some as a family of shitcoins. This is due to how the token doesn’t have a specific use case or utility purpose. The token came into existence in 2013, and the team behind it sees it as a fun and light-hearted token that’ll attract many investors due to its Dog logo. However, the token has gained much attention due to the vocal support of Tesla CEO Elon Musk. 

Conclusion 

While most failed crypto projects share the name Shitcoin, some existing tokens also share the sobriquet. Tokens without good use or a clear road map are referred to as Shitcoins. Therefore, some of the tokens regarded as Shitcoins are not generally bad, they can offer good returns depending on market sentiment. However, investors must trade them with caution to avoid losing their funds. 

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