Since Bitcoin’s introduction in 2009, interest in cryptocurrencies has soared. One manifestation of this interest has been the explosion of newly created coins and tokens. In this paper, we analyze the dynamics of this burgeoning industry. We consider both cryptocurrency coins and tokens. The paper examines the dynamics of coin and token creation, competition and destruction in the cryptocurrency industry. In order to conduct the analysis, we develop a methodology to identify peaks in prices and trade volume, as well as when coins and tokens are abandoned and subsequently “resurrected”. We also study trading activity. Our data spans more than 4 years: there are 1082 coins and 725 tokens in the data. While there are some similarities between coins and tokens regarding dynamics, there are some striking differences as well. Overall, we find that 44% of publicly-traded coins are abandoned, at least temporarily. 71% of abandoned coins are later resurrected, leaving 18% of coins to fail permanently. Tokens experience abandonment less frequently, with only 7% abandonment and 5% permanent token abandonment at the end of the data. Using linear regressions, we find that market variables such as the bitcoin price are not associated with the rate of introducing new coins, though they are positively associated with issuing new tokens. We find that for both coins and tokens, market variables are positively associated with resurrection. We then examine the effect that the bursting of the Bitcoin bubble in December 2017 had on the dynamics in the industry. Unlike the end of the 2013 bubble, some alternative cryptocurrencies continue to flourish after the bursting of this bubble.

自 2009 年比特币问世以来，人们对加密货币的兴趣飙升。这种兴趣的一个表现是新创建的硬币和代币的爆炸式增长。在本文中，我们分析了这个新兴行业的动态。我们同时考虑加密货币硬币和代币。该论文研究了加密货币行业中硬币和代币创造、竞争和破坏的动态。为了进行分析，我们开发了一种方法来识别价格和交易量的峰值，以及硬币和代币何时被放弃并随后“复活”。我们还研究交易活动。我们的数据跨越 4 年多：数据中有 1082 个硬币和 725 个代币。虽然硬币和代币在动态方面有一些相似之处，但也有一些显着的差异。全面的，我们发现 44% 的公开交易代币被废弃，至少是暂时废弃。71% 的废弃硬币后来复活，留下 18% 的硬币永久失效。令牌被放弃的频率较低，在数据末尾只有 7% 的放弃和 5% 的永久令牌放弃。使用线性回归，我们发现诸如比特币价格之类的市场变量与引入新代币的速度无关，尽管它们与发行新代币呈正相关。我们发现，对于硬币和代币，市场变量都与复活呈正相关。然后，我们研究了 2017 年 12 月比特币泡沫破灭对行业动态的影响。与 2013 年泡沫结束不同，一些替代加密货币在泡沫破灭后继续蓬勃发展。