Executive Summary
Developers are a leading indicator of value creation. Developers build apps that deliver value to users. Killer apps attract customers. New customers bring more developers. Because crypto is significantly open source, we have an unprecedented ability to measure this developer-value creation flywheel in a rapidly evolving industry.
We analyzed 902 million code commits across 1.7 million repositories to create the 2024 Developer Report.
The community contributing to the report has grown 24x since 2019 with 339 people contributing in 2024. A total of 829 people have helped since its inception.
This year we also include data from StablePulse.org, NFTPulse.org, and CodeSlaw.app, three of Electric Capital's public goods.
Crypto developer and user activity is more global and more cross chain than ever.
Developer trends:
- Crypto developers have grown 39% per year since Ethereum's launch in 2015.
- 39,148 new developers explored crypto in 2024.
- Total developers are marginally down in 2024 with a decline of 7%.
- Established Developers (those in crypto for 2+ years) are at all-time highs, growing 27% YoY and committing 70% of code commits.
Adoption is globally distributed:
- Asia is the #1 continent by developer share; North America dropped from #1 to #3.
- The US is the #1 country with 19% developer share but is down from 38% in 2015.
- India onboarded the most new crypto developers in 2024.
- Crypto activity spans all time zones: Stablecoin transactions are consistently active, rising 2-3% during Asian, European, and African work hours. NFT trading peaks during American work hours, while minting peaks during Asian work hours, indicating how different parts of the globe gravitate toward different use cases.
Developers are diversifying across chains and ecosystems:
- 1 in 3 crypto developers work on multiple chains, up from < 10% in 2015.
- Ethereum is the #1 ecosystem for total developer activity on every continent.
- Bitcoin total developers are consistent with 42% working on scaling solutions.
- Solana is the #1 ecosystem for new developers in 2024 and grew 83% YoY.
- Base is responsible for 42% of the new code being written in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Use-cases are diversifying across chains:
- Base & Solana lead in low-fee use cases for NFTs: Base owns 97% of NFT minting volume. Solana owns 64% of NFT mint transactions.
- Solana leads in DEX usage: Solana captures 81% of DEX transactions and has the highest number of unique trading wallets. Base is #2 by unique trading wallets.
- LRTs as a new sector added $30B+ in TVL to Ethereum mainnet. EigenLayer invented the re-staking sector and grew Full-time developers 130% as AVS developer adoption grows.
- Stablecoins usage is at all-time highs: stablecoins have $196B in circulating supply and $81B in daily transaction volume. Transaction sizes are diverse and vary by chain.
- Bitcoin ETFs rank amongst the most successful ETF launches ever.
Tracking the Crypto Developer Community is an Open-Source Effort
Finding, tracking, and mapping these crypto repositories is a community effort. Thank you to the 800+ contributors who added repositories to the Crypto Ecosystems Github since 2019. If you are working in open-source crypto, please help the community by adding your repo to the mapping.
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Disclaimer and Disclosures
This Content is for Informational Purposes Only
Any content included in this report is informational only and not an offer, solicitation, or recommendation to buy or sell securities or pursue any particular investment strategy, and does not constitute the provision of investment advice. Electric Capital Partners, LLC (together with its affiliates, “Electric Capital”) does not provide advice of any kind through this report, its website, or social media posts. Information in this report or any posts may not be used or relied upon in evaluating the merits of any investment.
You should consult your own advisers as to business, financial, tax, legal, or other related matters concerning any investment.
Certain information has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by Electric Capital. Content is as of the date posted and subject to change without notice.
Electric Capital makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of this information, or its appropriateness for a given scenario.
Electric Capital may have previously held, currently holds, or will in the future hold token or equity interests in one or more of the ecosystems or projects mentioned in this report. A non-exhaustive list of past and present investments made by vehiclesfunds managed by Electric Capital is available here. Excluded from this list are investments (and certain publicly traded cryptocurrencies or other digital assets) for which the issuer has not provided permission for Electric Capital to disclose publicly. Electric Capital does not short tokens.
Please see electriccapital.com/disclosures for additional important information.