Developers in the crypto industry are becoming more distributed in terms of physical geography and by their activity of different blockchain networks.
Ethereum is still the most popular blockchain ecosystem by monthly active developers across each of the seven continents.
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Posted December 12, 2024 at 3:22 pm EST.
The number of developers in crypto has grown over the long term. But the 2024 bull market shows new trends among builders that reflect a shifting balance both geographically as well as by blockchain network, according to venture firm Electric Capital’s 2024 developer report published on Thursday.
“Crypto is meant to be a decentralized, global movement. That was the vision right when we started. It’s supposed to be a stateless technology and I think what we’re seeing is really the realization of that,” Maria Shen, a General Partner on the investment team at Electric Capital, told Unchained.
Data from 902 million code commits across nearly two million repositories shows that the developer and builder scene in the crypto space has changed substantially, as evidenced by Solana attracting more new developers than Ethereum for the first time and Asia climbing the ranks in developer share.
The number of monthly active developers contributing to open-source crypto marginally fell 7% from over 25,400 in Nov. 2023 to more than 23,600 in Nov. 2024 and yet the number of monthly active developers has grown 39% on an annualized basis since 2015 when Ethereum launched.
Meanwhile, the number of established developers, who have more than two years of experience in crypto, has reached a record high growing 27% year-over-year to 11,243 developers as of Nov. 2024.
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Solana Becomes Top Destination for New Developers
Solana is the #1 ecosystem for new developers. Out of the 39,148 new developers exploring crypto in 2024, 7,625 of these individuals come from Solana, per Electric Capital’s research. According to Shen, Solana’s role in attracting a record number of new developers is momentous, because “this is the first year that Solana has brought on more new developer interest than Ethereum.”
In addition to Solana taking the lead for new developers, the network also has a loyal group of full-time developers that stuck around despite price and ecosystem volatility. “I think that bodes very well for what’s going to come, because these are the developers who just hunker down and continue to build… Solana, this year, you can see the fruits of that labor,” Shen added.
Crypto has proven to itself now that it’s not only for these really niche expensive transfers, but it’s also for transfers that cost less than a cent. “We’re seeing more and more of those types of actions happening, which I think is really pointing to the amount of mainstream adoption we’re getting,” Shen noted.
Ethereum Remains Popular
Despite Solana becoming the place for new developers to start, the most popular blockchain by monthly active developers across each of the seven continents is Ethereum with Solana taking the silver belt. Ethereum itself is diversifying as projects are emerging and gaining traction outside of its base layer.
While the parent chain is still the primary destination for high-value use cases, Ethereum’s L2s such as Coinbase-incubated Base have enabled low-value use cases. “What’s also really fascinating is Base has the most onchain code innovation out of all the major EVM chains,” Shen said.
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The top growing ecosystem by monthly overall developers and full-time builders is restaking protocol EigenLayer, which has a total value locked of $18.3 billion at presstime. The substantial amount of capital that EigenLayer has attracted by establishing a new sector within the crypto space ended up attracting new developer interest as monthly overall developers increased 167% year-over-year.
Regional Shifts: Asia Overtakes North America in Developer Share
By crypto developer share, Asia and North America flip-flopped, highlighting how crypto developers are becoming more distributed throughout the world. Asia has risen from the #3 continent at 12% of total developers in 2015 to the #1 continent accounting for a 32% proportion of all developers, while North America decreased from 43% in 2015 to 24% in 2024. Europe remained steady holding the second-ranked position in 2015 at 37% and 2024 at 31%.
“Asia, Europe, and North America have the highest concentration of overall crypto devs, but no region dominates,” the report stated.
From a country perspective, the United States remains the top country by developer share, making up 19% of developers. However, Electric Capital’s findings reveal that the U.S. has been losing its share of total developers consistently every year. In 2015, the U.S. had a 38% developer share. On the other hand, India has climbed from the #10 position at 1% of developers to second place at 12%. Ethereum is the most popular network in the U.S. and Solana is the top ecosystem for developers based in India.
The price of ETH has jumped 75% in the last year from $2,200 to $3,833 at presstime, while SOL’s has increased 232.8% from $68 to $230, market data from CoinGecko shows.
