Electric Capital 2024 Developer Report Full Text: The Number of Senior Developers Reaches a New High, Asia Has the Most Crypto Developers

Original Title: “2024 Crypto Developer Report”

Author: Maria, Electric Capital

Compiled by: 1912212.eth, Foresight News

The sixth annual Electric Capital Developer Report has involved 829 contributors since its inception, analyzing a record 902 million code commits across 1.7 million code repositories.

How does the data for the crypto industry in 2024 perform?

Key takeaways:

• The crypto industry is global, with developer momentum shifting from North America to other regions.
• Developers and use cases are diversifying across different ecosystems.
• Applications span all time zones, indicating widespread global adoption.

We have underestimated the number of developers in the crypto space, as our statistics focus solely on open-source development activities.

Our methodology includes:

• Merging developer profiles into a single standardized identity.
• Identifying and excluding bot accounts.
• Removing code repositories that do not reflect development activity, such as data lists.

Since the launch of Ethereum in 2015, the crypto industry has grown at an annual rate of 39%. In 2015, there were about 1,000 monthly active developers. Today: the number of monthly active developers has grown to 23,613.

In the past year, the number of monthly active developers has slightly decreased by 7%.

However, the number of developers engaged in the crypto industry for over two years has increased by 27%.

These experienced developers are driving the industry's growth, contributing 70% of the code commits.

What changes have occurred in the crypto industry since 2015? Let's take a look at the global diversity of crypto developers.

The distribution of developers has shifted from the U.S. and Europe, which accounted for 82%, to other regions of the world.

Asia is now the continent with the highest proportion of developers, with one in three crypto developers residing in Asia. Europe ranks second. Since 2015, North America has dropped from first to third place.

We can identify the top ecosystems in these continents by the proportion of developers.

By developer proportion, Ethereum ranks as the top ecosystem in every major continental block.

• Solana ranks second.
• Polygon ranks third in Asia and South America.
• Polkadot ranks third in Europe.
• Base ranks third in North America.
• Dfinity ranks third in Africa.

The United States, India, the United Kingdom, China, and Canada hold the largest shares of global crypto developers.

The United States still has the highest proportion of crypto developers, but it has been steadily declining since 2015. India has risen from 10th to 2nd place.

Top ecosystems by developer proportion by country:

• Ethereum ranks first in the U.S., U.K., China, and Canada, and second in India.
• Solana ranks first in India and second elsewhere.
• Base ranks third in the U.S. and India.
• Polygon ranks third in the U.K.
• NEAR Protocol ranks third in Canada.
• Polkadot ranks third in China.

India welcomed the most new crypto developers in 2024. 17% of new crypto developers come from India.

Let's focus on new developers—39,148 new developers explored the crypto space in 2024. We can break down these new developers by ecosystem.

Solana became the ecosystem with the highest number of new monthly developers in July 2024.

Overall situation of new developers in 2024:

Solana is the ecosystem with the most new developers, ranking first.

Ethereum ranks second. Dfinity, Aptos, Base, Bitcoin, Sui Network, NEAR Protocol, Polkadot, Polygon, and Starknet all had over 1,000 new developers join.

Arbitrum, BNB Chain, Optimism, Stellar Org, and Ton Blockchain all had over 500 new developers join.

Who is experiencing the fastest growth in total developer numbers? Total developer numbers reflect the interest of new developers and hackathon participants.

Based on data from Q3 2023 and Q4 2024, the top ten ecosystems with the fastest growth in total developer numbers are:

Who is experiencing the fastest growth in full-time developer numbers? Full-time developers submit code for more than 10 days a month, contributing stable work to the ecosystem.

Based on data from Q3 2023 and Q4 2024, the top ten ecosystems with the fastest growth in full-time developers are:

Many developers are active across multiple chains—now, one in three crypto developers works across multiple chains, and this trend is growing. The number of monthly active multi-chain developers has increased from less than 10% in 2015 to 34% in 2024.

Chains with the most multi-chain developers share developer resources with Ethereum.

EVM chains share the most developers and exhibit significant network effects: 74% of multi-chain developers work on EVM chains.

Since 2021, the proportion of EVM cross-chain deployers has quadrupled.

Base is the most popular chain for EVM multi-chain deployers in 2024, but deployers on Base tend to stay on the Base chain.

As deployers release code across multiple chains, where is most of the original code written?

Before 2020, nearly all original on-chain code logic on EVM was written on Ethereum.

Now, no EVM chain's code innovation accounts for more than 30%.

Base now accounts for 25% of all original on-chain code logic across EVM chains, the highest among all major EVM chains.

This is how the Ethereum ecosystem maintains its leading position in code innovation—through L2 chains. 65% of innovation occurs on the mainnet and ETH L2 chains.

The Ethereum ecosystem demonstrates strong network effects through its dominance in EVM and multi-chain developers. How does this ecosystem perform?

Ethereum has 6,244 monthly active developers, a year-on-year decrease of 17%.

Most losses come from developers who joined after 2021. Among developers already working on Ethereum, those with over two years of experience have increased by 21%.

Now, more than half of Ethereum developers work on Ethereum L2 chains, up from 25% in 2022.

Ethereum L2 chains have seen significant growth in developers over the past four years. The total number of monthly active developers on Ethereum L2 chains is 3,592, growing at an annual rate of 67% since Arbitrum's launch in 2021.

Base is the largest Ethereum L2 chain.

Arbitrum, Starknet, and Optimism all have over 2,000 developers in 2024.

In 2024, Bitcoin has 1,200 monthly active developers, remaining stable.

Experienced Bitcoin developers (those with over two years of Bitcoin development experience) are steadily increasing. Currently, the number of monthly active experienced Bitcoin developers has reached 672, a new high.

42% of Bitcoin developers—almost half—are working on Bitcoin scaling solutions.

Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZK) is a developer-centric field rooted in research. How is its development?

Over 2,000 monthly active developers are working in the ZK ecosystem, with 823 being full-time developers who submit code for more than 10 days a month.

On-chain deployments of Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZK) have also increased from 40 in 2020 to 639 in 2024.

Although the numbers remain relatively flat, they show clear growth. The number of deployers has also increased.

ZK is also gaining usage—contracts using ZK precompiles have increased from 47 in 2020 to 680 this year.

When are Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZK) developers and users active?

Deployers of ZK Rollup contracts are active during working hours in the Eastern Hemisphere, as are ZK users.

ZK users and deployers seem to be concentrated in the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia.

NFTs and DeFi are established application scenarios in the crypto space—most top smart contracts are related to NFTs or DeFi. How are these application scenarios developing? Let's start with NFTs.

On all major NFT active chains (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Zora, Base), NFT deployments have increased more than threefold year-on-year.

NFT deployments have reached an all-time high. 87% of new deployments occurred on Base and Zora.

NFT activity has significantly shifted towards minting.

In 2024, NFT minting reached an all-time high, with 97% of minting occurring on Base.

Solana has 57% of minting wallets, capturing 64% of minting transactions.

The increase in minting activity is due to NFTs surpassing the art domain in 2024, covering more application scenarios.

NFT trading remains an important foundational application and has expanded from OpenSea to platforms like Magic Eden and Tensor.

The trading volume of NFT minting and trading peaked in different regions—indicating the presence of different user groups.

3,532 monthly active developers are engaged in DeFi development. DeFi developers are experienced—2,097 of them (59%) have been working in DeFi for over two years.

53% of DeFi developers work on Ethereum and its L2 chains.

In 2024, the Total Value Locked (TVL) in DeFi grew by 89%.

Ethereum's TVL dominates, being seven times that of the second-largest chain.

Most of the TVL has remained concentrated on Ethereum.

Non-Ethereum TVL has grown from 3% to 36% over three years.

The largest leap in TVL share occurred in Solana.

What is driving all this TVL growth? We can categorize DeFi developers by developer type.

In the past year, restaking has grown by $29 billion in TVL.

LRTs have grown to over 3.5 million ETH.

46% of LRTs are used in DeFi.

Most LRTs are deposited in money markets, yield, interest rate derivatives, and bridging platforms.

Eigenlayer has facilitated the creation of LRTs as a domain. So, how is the developer ecosystem of Eigenlayer developing?

There are 252 monthly active developers working in the Eigenlayer ecosystem. Eigenlayer developers are highly engaged: 39% are full-time developers, and over half of the developers have worked in this ecosystem for more than two years.

TVL is not the only metric for understanding DeFi usage. Although the TVL of lending platforms is three times that of DEXs, DEXs have a higher unique address trading volume. For example—comparing DEXs with lending platforms: in 2024, Uniswap's unique address interactions are 72 times that of AAVE.

In 2024, DEX trading volume nearly doubled, reaching $209 billion monthly.

Solana and Ethereum settled the most trading volume—over twice that of the second-largest chain.

Solana settled the most trading volume in 2024, reaching $574 billion. The total DEX trading volume on Ethereum mainnet and its L2 chains is $931 billion.

Solana dominates the low-fee DEX application scenario. In 2024, its trading volume grew more than threefold, reaching 646 million transactions in a single month.

81% of DEX transactions come from Solana.

In terms of the number of trading wallets, excluding wallets with only one transaction and amounts below $1, Solana has the most independent trading wallets, seven times that of the second-largest chain.

Base has the second most independent trading wallets, excluding Solana.

Base and Solana are very popular for small transfers. The average amount of wallet transactions on these chains is the smallest.

Ethereum is favored for high-value transfers. The average amount of wallet transactions on Ethereum is the largest.

Where are these DEX users? We can understand DeFi usage through DEX, as financial activities often start or end with DEX.

Global activity varies across different chains—the more evenly distributed the activity, the more global the usage. Ethereum and Solana have the most evenly distributed usage.

Stablecoins are one of the largest crypto application scenarios globally. How do stablecoins perform? The usage of stablecoins has reached an all-time high: the total amount of stablecoins in circulation is $196 billion, with a daily trading volume of $81 billion—both are historical records for stablecoins.

USDC and USDT account for 95% of the trading volume.

Ethereum is the first ecosystem for stablecoins—59% of stablecoins are issued on Ethereum.

What is the global activity situation for stablecoins?

Stablecoins are consistently active, but trading volume has increased by 2-3% during working hours in Asia, Europe, and Africa.

Although stablecoin trading peaks during working hours in the Eastern Hemisphere, trading volume is more inclined towards the Western Hemisphere.

Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs launched this year, providing an easy way for off-chain capital to enter on-chain assets. The Bitcoin ETF attracted over $50 billion in net inflows, becoming one of the most successful ETFs in history.

Most of the trading volume for the Bitcoin ETF comes from retail investors.

Although the Bitcoin ETF is still in its early stages, institutional investors are purchasing spot Bitcoin ETFs at a record pace.

The Ethereum ETF launched in July this year. Currently, the assets under management (AUM) of the Ethereum ETF are $13 billion, attracting $3.5 billion in net inflows. This performance is comparable to the most successful ETF launch since 2022 (excluding Bitcoin ETFs), primarily driven by retail investors.

Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have set historical records. In their first year, cumulative inflows have already surpassed those of the most successful ETFs in history by more than double.