$SOL broke the 8-year streak of $ETH as the main ecosystem for new developers
Ethereum continues to hold the crown of total developer activity, topping the lists across all continents in the world.
Solana broke Ethereum's 8-year streak as the leading ecosystem for new developers
NEWS
New developers flocked to the Solana ecosystem this year, overthrowing Ethereum's eight-year reign as the leading ecosystem for new developers.
However, Ethereum remains number one globally in total developer activity.
According to a report from December 12 by Electric Capital, the Solana ecosystem onboarded more new developers in July than the Ethereum ecosystem for the first time since 2016.
That momentum continued throughout the rest of the year, with current totals showing that 7,625 new developers have joined Solana, led by developer growth in Asia, compared to 6,456 from Ethereum.
Developers, Data, #Solana
Solana, driven by developer growth in Asia, managed to dethrone Ethereum as the leading ecosystem for new developers in 2024. Source: Electric Capital
The report also noted that the Solana ecosystem had experienced an 83% increase in activity since last year.
Solana briefly surpassed Ethereum on several fronts this year. On March 18, Solana's network activity surpassed Ethereum amid a surge in Solana-based memecoins, while on October 28 it managed to surpass Ethereum in daily network fee generation over 24 hours.
Overall, the report found that 39,148 new developers started exploring crypto this year, a 7% decrease from last year and about half of the all-time high of over 77,000 in 2022.
Ethereum, the number one ecosystem in total developer activity
Despite a 17% decline in Ethereum's monthly developers over the past year down to 6,244, it remains the largest ecosystem in total developer activity.
According to data from Electric Capital, Ethereum has the largest number of active developers in Asia, Europe, North America, Africa, and South America.
Developers, Data, Solana
#ethereum remains the number one ecosystem in terms of total developer activity worldwide. Source: Electric Capital
Ethereum's layer 2 networks have also seen a 64% growth since 2021, while 26% of all monthly cryptocurrency developers are working on L2s and the mainnet.
Eigenlayer, the leading re-staking protocol on Ethereum, was the fastest-growing developer ecosystem in 2024, with a 167% increase in the total monthly number of developers.
Cryptocurrencies are expanding worldwide
Electric Capital's report found that cryptocurrencies have also grown globally, with an increase in the number of developers in Africa, South America, and Asia.
In particular, Asia, Europe, and North America stand out as the main cryptocurrency hubs in 2024.
Asia leads the pack, with 1 in 3 developers worldwide living on the continent, partly due to India onboarding the largest number of new cryptocurrency developers in 2024.
According to Electric Capital, cryptocurrency activity now spans all time zones, with different parts of the world gravitating towards different use cases.
Stablecoin transactions are consistently active, increasing by 3% during daylight hours in Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Meanwhile, spikes in non-fungible token (NFT) trading occur during working hours in America, while minting spikes happen during working hours in Asia.
