- Electric Capital’s annual report analyzes 902 million code commits, offering insights into the cryptocurrency development ecosystem of 2024.
- Cryptocurrency developers have expanded globally, with Asia now leading in developer share, surpassing North America for the first time.
As revealed by Electric Capital’s annual report. This document, which details the analysis of 902 million code commits across 1.7 million repositories, provides a deep insight into the cryptocurrency development ecosystem in 2024.
The globalization of the crypto industry stands out as one of the key findings. Cryptocurrency developers have broadened their horizons beyond the borders of North America, with a notable increase in geographical diversity. Asia now positions itself as the continent with the largest share of developers, pushing North America to third place, a significant shift since 2015.
The report also highlights the diversification of developers and use cases across multiple ecosystems.
This phenomenon suggests a maturation of the market where blockchain applications are not confined to a single blockchain but spread across various platforms, fostering a more interconnected environment.
Ethereum continues to lead in developer engagement across all major continents. Despite a 17% decrease in the number of active monthly developers compared to the previous year, the community of established developers on Ethereum has grown by 21%.
Moreover, over half of Ethereum developers are now working on second-layer (L2) solutions, with a 67% increase in active L2 developers since the launch of Arbitrum in 2021. Ethereum accounts for 25% of all innovative code logic in EVM, underscoring its leadership in innovation.
Solana has surpassed Ethereum in attracting new developers in 2024, with 7,625 new developers compared to Ethereum’s 6,224. This shift reflects growing interest in Solana’s speed and innovation capabilities.
Bitcoin maintains consistency in its development, with 1,200 active monthly developers in 2024. Nearly 42% of these developers are working on scalability solutions for Bitcoin, indicating a focus on improving the main network.
Polkadot and Solana are noted as the second most popular choices after Ethereum, with Polkadot standing out in Europe and Solana in India.
Base has become the main destination for multi-chain developers within the EVM ecosystem, although these developers tend to remain within Base.
DFINITY (Internet Computer) ranks third in Africa, indicating growing adoption in emerging regions.
Zcash (ZK) has over 2,000 active monthly developers, with 823 of them dedicated full-time, demonstrating a focus on privacy and zero-knowledge proof (ZK) technology.
Developer activity spans all time zones, indicating significant global usage. This reflects how cryptocurrencies are transitioning from being merely tools for financial speculation to becoming integral parts of the global technological infrastructure.
However, the report notes that its methodology underestimates the number of crypto developers due to its exclusive focus on open-source development activity. Developers are identified, and duplicate profiles and bots are removed to ensure data accuracy.
We are delighted to release the 6th annual @ElectricCapital Developer Report!
We analyzed a record 902M code commits across 1.7M repos thanks to the 829 people who contributed to making this report since inception.
How did 2024 in crypto look in data?
Long thread below 👇🏽 pic.twitter.com/vHzjWnThct
— maria 🐸 (@MariaShen) December 12, 2024
This year, there has been a significant growth in the number of developers dedicated to the crypto industry, with an increase of 39% since the launch of Ethereum in 2015.
Crypto has grown at an annualized 39% since the launch of Ethereum in 2015. There were ~1,000 monthly active developers in 2015.
Today: 23,613 monthly active developers now work on crypto. pic.twitter.com/8KO2Lof5p5
— maria 🐸 (@MariaShen) December 12, 2024
The industry has proven resilient, with interest and participation in development continuing, even in a year where declines in activity were expected.
