Don't pay attention to these projects that are pretending to be dead.

Author: Chloe, ChainCatcher

The crypto market in 2025 witnessed an extreme industry contradiction: according to GeckoTerminal statistics, although the total number of token issuance projects exceeded 20 million, more than 57% of these projects went bankrupt. In this brutal elimination process, a more insidious type of "zombie project" is spreading. These projects possess the backing of top-tier capital and leading exchanges, frequently changing their narratives, but are almost stagnant in terms of actual product, technology delivery, and ecosystem development.

This article will deeply analyze projects such as Sleepless AI, Hooked Protocol, Saga, and Dymension, which appear to be heading towards zombie status, and examine their operational characteristics. In 2026, the ability to penetrate the narrative fog and identify signs of zombie status has become an essential survival skill for investors.

Is issuing a token the end of the job?

Is issuing a token the end of the job?

Project Demise and Zombie Coinification In the early stages of blockchain development, the definition of "zombie coins" was relatively simple: long-term dormancy, loss of trading liquidity, disappearance of development teams, and lack of community participation. However, with the maturation of capital markets and the deep involvement of venture capital, a more insidious and absurd phenomenon has emerged in recent years. Data shows that in 2021, only 428,000 tokenized projects were launched on GeckoTerminal, but by the end of 2025, this number had soared to 20.17 million. Behind this explosive growth, a staggering 53% of projects have perished. Simultaneously, behind this high turnover and high attrition rate lies a large number of "zombie" projects. Although they are traded on exchanges and post daily announcements on social media, there are significant gaps in actual product delivery, on-chain activities, and ecosystem development.

Sleepless AI: Parasitic AI Narrative? R&D and Delivery Gap

Sleepless AI was once a darling of the market, not only selected as a top performer in Binance Labs' sixth season incubation program, but also making a grand appearance in Binance Launchpool's 42nd session with the halo of "Web3 + AI Virtual Companion". However, entering 2026, its market performance contradicted its initial hype: the token price has retreated from its all-time high of $2.46 to around $0.024, a drop of 99%. 1. Disconnect between technical transparency and R&D progress: Although the project touts the use of AIGC and Large Language Models (LLM) to create a deep emotional support experience, its transparency in terms of actual technical aspects is severely lacking. Publicly available information reveals a near-complete absence of traceable code update records or iterative versions of the core algorithm. What worries investors even more is the unclear progress of the Web Dapp, originally scheduled for release in Q2 2025. 2. Inefficient Execution of Mobile Strategy: In the era of "mobile-first" applications, Sleepless AI's product rollout has been relatively slow. Its flagship product, HIM, had still not been successfully launched on the iOS App Store or Google Play Store as of early 2026, and the official website currently only offers an Android APK download. For a project aiming for large-scale adoption, this development efficiency severely limits user growth and market trust. 3. Narrative Restructuring and Insider Questions: Accompanying the product stagnation is deep market skepticism regarding the project's essence. Some market observers suggest that the project is a "narrative restructuring" of old Web2 games, that is, forcibly attaching itself to the AI ​​trend by packaging the AI ​​concept and leveraging capital relationships to obtain investment from Binance Labs and traffic benefits from Launchpool. While these claims are mostly anonymous accusations, combined with weak technical delivery and a collapsed token price, this phenomenon of "narrative parasitism" has become an important indicator for investors to identify potentially zombie projects in 2026. Hooked Protocol: The Ecosystem Dilemma After Incentive Drying Out Hooked Protocol once emerged as a dark horse in the Web3 social learning track with its Learn-to-Earn model, not only receiving investment from Binance Labs and Sequoia China, but also launching as Binance's 29th Launchpad project. However, as token distribution enters its later stages and subsidies gradually fade, the project is facing a severe test of "real user retention" and "ecosystem value." 1. From Learn-to-Earn to the Incentive-Dependent Dilemma: Hooked Protocol's initial success relied heavily on the traffic effect of Binance Launchpad and its robust token subsidy mechanism. This model could quickly acquire a large user base in the early stages, but when the price of the HOOK token plummeted by nearly 99% from its peak, the growth game sustained by subsidies lost its appeal. Historical experience has repeatedly shown that after TGE (Trusted Tokens) and the disappearance of incentives, a "massive user base" lacking rigid demand often shrinks rapidly.

2. The "Marketing-Oriented" Tendency in Narrative Transformation: Entering 2025, Hooked attempted to transform into an "AI-driven learning ecosystem" and "educational infrastructure." Although the official statement indicated that it would collaborate with 3-7 top universities to develop courses and launch the Hooked Coursera Hub in August 2025, partnering with over 74 Web3 projects, these initiatives seemed more like "brand enhancement" at the marketing level. Compared to the impressive list of partnerships, its substantial breakthroughs at the underlying technology level were lackluster.

1. Frequent "Changing Courses" Exposes Ecosystem Anxiety: In the past two years, Saga has demonstrated extremely high narrative flexibility, but it has also exposed the core flaws of its ecosystem. From initially focusing on a game-specific chain with over 350 partner projects, to subsequently shifting to an AI infrastructure narrative, this frequent change of narrative essentially reflects the growth anxiety of the old ecosystem due to a lack of practical applications.

Dymension: A Data Ghost Town Under a Grand Architecture

Dymension's script is highly similar to Saga. Its RollApp concept is theoretically quite appealing, but in the face of actual data in 2026, it resembles a grand ghost town. Although Dymension attempts to establish a benchmark for modular settlement layers, the true vitality of its ecosystem falls far short of expectations.