According to CoinMarketCap data gathered moments ago, there are now currently over 20,000 cryptocurrencies (20,033 at the moment of this post).

The top 10 make up about 83% of the total marketcap.

Statistica breaks down historic numbers of total cryptocurrencies. We can see that even just in the last 6-12 months the number has exploded.

Most of us have probably seen posts form Redditors who made their own cryptocurrency either for fun or as a learning experience, which has gotten much easier in the past year or two.

PROS: anybody can make a cryptocurrency; it’s a permissionless industry in this sense.

CONS: About 99% of cryptocurrencies are either worthless or ought to be worthless (my conservative estimate)