2 Overhyped Cryptocurrencies That Could Turn $100,000 Into Nothing

The overall cryptocurrency market has been on an impressive winning streak over the last five years, with leading tokens Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP posting winning streaks that made fortunes for patient investors. While valuations for cryptocurrencies have continued to see high levels of volatility, it's generally been a winning move to take a buy-and-hold approach to established tokens.

Even though some tokens have managed to serve up incredible gains, the broader crypto market is still filled with risk -- and investors have to be careful about what tokens they back. With that in mind, read on for a look at two tokens that could crash the value of a $100,000 investment.

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Shiba Inu

Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) launched in August 2020 and quickly became one of the hottest meme coins on the market. Despite huge volatility, investors who bought the token near its launch and maintained their holdings wound up seeing incredible returns.

On the other hand, Shiba Inu has gradually been losing share in the crypto market over the last few years. The token is down roughly 90% from the valuation peak it reached in 2021.

While the Shiba Inu project has rolled out burning mechanisms that reduce the total outstanding coin supply, an almost vanishingly small portion of the outstanding supply has been taken out of the market. The project's layer-2 network has spurred little in the way of bullish momentum for the cryptocurrency, and it also doesn't seem to have much for add-on developer projects built around the token.

Shiba Inu's metaverse project also appears to be pretty much a complete flop at this point. After numerous delays, SHIB: The Metaverse had an early access launch late in 2024 -- but it never progressed to an active virtual world and sported pitifully low levels of engagement. Interest in the overall metaverse trend has waned considerably, and SHIB: The Metaverse can now probably be safely written off as another dud among attempts to create a more active ecosystem surrounding the Shiba Inu coin.

As of this writing, Shiba Inu still has a market capitalization of roughly $5 billion and ranks as the 24th-largest cryptocurrency by valuation. Shiba Inu is a meme coin that is seemingly losing relevance, and the lack of other fundamental catalysts likely to propel its valuation higher over the long term makes it an unadvisable bet for 2026.

Bitcoin Cash

Bitcoin Cash (CRYPTO: BCH) got its start by forking off the Bitcoin blockchain and started trading as its own cryptocurrency in August 2017. Bitcoin Cash can offer lower transaction fees and payment processing times compared to Bitcoin, and some investors have been piling into the token in hopes that it will continue to gain market share.

Over the last year, the price of Bitcoin has actually fallen 6%. Meanwhile, Bitcoin Cash is up approximately 44%. With a market cap of approximately $12.7 billion, Bitcoin Cash ranks as the 11th-largest cryptocurrency by valuation -- and some investors are betting that ramping adoption will help the token continue to climb the ranks.

On the other hand, investors should view Bitcoin Cash's adoption trends and fundamentals in context before betting big on the cryptocurrency. While Bitcoin Cash has gained ground over the last year, its market capitalization still comes in at just a small fraction of Bitcoin's $1.8 trillion market cap. When looking at the difference in scale, Bitcoin Cash really hasn't gained meaningful ground against Bitcoin over the last year.

Institutional adoption for Bitcoin Cash remains relatively low, and long-term staying power could prove much weaker than the market-leading cryptocurrency it was forked from. While Bitcoin Cash may offer some benefits in terms of transaction fees and payment speeds, Bitcoin's bullish momentum has hinged more around its potential as a speculative asset than its status as a widely adopted means of payment. As a payments mechanism, there really isn't much that sets Bitcoin Cash apart from a large number of other coins on the market.

With that in mind, there's a risk that Bitcoin Cash will wind up trading like a meme coin over the long term. The cryptocurrency could potentially see some valuation gains in conjunction with trends shaping the broader market, but investors could lose big betting on its long-term staying power.

Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.