Insights from the 2024 Crypto Developer Report
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9
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May 20, 2025
Last year’s edition of the Electric Capital Developer Report arrived at a crucial moment for the crypto industry, after a decade of expansion, turbulence, and groundbreaking leaps. Drawing from 902 million code commits across 1.7 million repositories, the report provides one of the most comprehensive data-driven analyses of open-source crypto to date.
Among its most important takeaways is the resilience of the developer community. Despite broader market volatility and a 7% year-over-year decline in active developers, the number of experienced ones (those with 2+ years in blockchain) reached an all-time high. These programmers now account for 70% of all code commits, a testament to the increasing maturity in the decentralized industry.
Moreover, crypto’s global footprint is being redefined geographically. Asia has overtaken North America as the leading hub for crypto developers, with countries like India spearheading new growth. Besides reflecting the international appeal of blockchain, this trend means that ecosystems are no longer dominated by any single region.
Key Findings
1. Developer Growth and Retention
- Since Ethereum's inception in 2015, the crypto developer community has expanded at an average annual rate of 39%.
- In 2024, 39,148 new developers entered the crypto space.
- Despite a 7% overall decline in total developers, the number of established programmers (with over two years of experience) peaked, growing by 27% year-over-year and contributing to 70% of all code commits.
2. Global Distribution
- Asia has emerged as the leading continent for crypto developers, surpassing North America, which fell from first to third place.
- The United States remains the top country with 19% of developers but has seen a decline from 38% in 2015.
- India led in onboarding new developers.
- Developers are now more globally distributed, with different regions exhibiting activity in various crypto use cases.
3. Diversification Across Chains
- One-third of crypto developers now work on multiple blockchains, a significant increase from less than 10% in 2015.
- Ethereum continues to be the leading ecosystem for total developer activity across all continents.
- Solana experienced an 83% year-over-year growth in new developers and leads in decentralized exchange (DEX) usage.
- Base accounts for 42% of new code contributions within the Ethereum ecosystem.
4. Emerging Use Cases and Technologies
- Solana and Base dominate low-fee NFT minting, with Base handling 97% of NFT minting volume and Solana managing 64% of NFT mint transactions.
- Solana captures 81% of DEX transactions and boasts the highest number of unique trading wallets.
- Liquid Restaking Tokens (LRTs) have added over $30 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL) to Ethereum's mainnet, with EigenLayer pioneering this sector and increasing its full-time developers by 130%.
- Stablecoin usage has reached record highs, with $196 billion in circulating supply and $81 billion in daily transaction volume.
- Bitcoin ETFs have become some of the most successful ETF launches in history.
What’s Next in 2025?
1. AI-Assisted Development
The rise of AI coding assistants like GitHub Copilot, OpenAI Codex, and Salesforce’s Agentforce v2 is already transforming the programming experience. According to a 2024 study, developers using AI tools saw a 21% reduction in coding time. In 2025, expect:
- Wider adoption of AI tools in blockchain development, streamlining smart contract creation, testing, and auditing.
- Improved security protocols, as AI tools become more adept at detecting vulnerabilities in real time.
- Ongoing debates over licensing and the originality of AI-generated code, leading to potential regulatory responses.
2. Asia's Dominance Solidifies
With India leading in new developer onboarding and China investing heavily in blockchain R&D despite regulatory challenges, Asia is poised to:
- Host more hackathons, incubators, and developer grants, particularly in DeFi and Web3 infrastructure.
- Foster regional blockchain alliances, enhancing cross-border digital currency initiatives, such as Project mBridge.
3. The Rise of Modular Blockchains and Interoperability
2024 saw one-third of developers working across multiple ecosystems. In 2025:
- Projects like Celestia, Polygon CDK, and Cosmos SDK will drive modular blockchain adoption, allowing developers to build custom, scalable blockchains more efficiently.
- Cross-chain communication protocols, like IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication), will gain more traction, enabling assets and data to flow without hassle between chains.
4. Stablecoins and RWA Tokenization Boom
Stablecoin usage has already reached $196 billion in circulating supply, but 2025 is set to be the year of Real-World Asset tokenization:
- Expect financial institutions to increasingly tokenize bonds, real estate, and equities.
- Stablecoin regulation will advance, especially in the EU (MiCA) and the US, bringing clarity to institutional players.
5. Developer Retention Becomes a Strategic Priority
As the number of experienced developers continues to grow:
- Projects will invest more in developer experience (DX), including better documentation, tooling, and mental health support, addressing burnout identified in the State of Developer Wellness Report 2024.
- DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) may evolve to offer retention incentives, including flexible work models and governance participation.
6. NFTs Find New Life Beyond Art
While 2024 was dominated by low-fee NFT minting on Base and Solana, 2025 will see:
- Enterprise adoption of NFTs for supply chain, identity, and intellectual property management.
- Integration with AI-generated content, particularly in gaming and media.
Conclusion
The 2024 Developer Report paints a picture of an industry that is no longer in its infancy. While uncertainties and issues remain, from regulatory voids to developer burnout, the crypto space is entering a phase of global, multi-disciplinary growth.
With AI, interoperability, and real-world integration shaping the roadmap, 2025 will likely be remembered as a year when crypto development became both diverse and practical.
