Less than a third of stablecoin projects are live, research shows

Only 30 per cent of announced stablecoin projects are live, with the rest in development or already closed, research from blockchain analytics firm Blockdata shows. A great majority of stablecoins—65 per cent—are backed off-chain, either by fiat currencies or commodities. 

With only 66 out of 226 stablecoins live, there are more than twice as many stablecoin projects still in the development phase—134 stablecoins have not been launched yet. Considering the number of stablecoins in the works, this year could see more new projects launch than ever before. 

While the best-faring ones are backed by U.S. dollar, 16 out of 24 failed projects were backed by gold. Blockdata believes the issue with commodity-based stablecoins that companies need to stockpile the commodity, for instance, gold, and be able to prove its existence. However, stockpiling itself can lead to price inflation and volatility, making the stablecoin less stable. 

Half of all active stablecoins have been developed on the Ethereum network, followed by Bitshares and Stellar. It may be because Ethereum allows for easy integration of a token so exchanges are not forced to create new infrastructure to add them.