Top 5 crypto projects leading the pack in terms of developer activity (2024)

There are multiple indicators that traders and investors use to analyse a crypto project before they put their money behind it. These indicators provide relevant information about the status of a project, its future price action and whether or not it is attracting interest from the masses. A network’s developer activity is one of these metrics.

Developers are the core of a blockchain project. They build incredible applications that generate interesting use cases and attract people to the blockchain. This usually leads to price momentum, which draws even more developers to the project, and the cycle continues.

Here’s a look at the blockchain networks with the most developer activity in recent times.

Ethereum (ETH)

At the top of the list is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Ethereum (ETH). A report by Electric Capital, a leading venture capital firm, indicated that there were 1,873 full-time developers active on the network in 2022. That was the highest amongst all blockchains last year.

Further, according to Santiment data, the leading altcoin blockchain is off to a good start in 2023 as well, coming in ninth in terms of developer activity since the year began. As per the report, Ethereum saw 219 notable GitHub commits to the network’s open-source code since 2023 began.

Developer activity could spike further, with Ethereum’s Shanghai update scheduled to take place later this year. This much-anticipated update will allow users to withdraw staked ETH and their accrued staking rewards.

Polkadot (DOT)

According to Electric Capital, the second largest project in terms of developer activity in 2022 was Polkadot (DOT). As per the report, there were 752 full-time developers working on the network. Polkadot has continued this momentum into 2023 as well. Per Santiment data, the platform has seen the highest developer activity since the start of the year. The network saw 441 notable GitHub commits to its open-source code YTD.

Polkadot also has ambitious plans for 2023. The network is gearing up for the Asynchronous Backing Upgrade, which is supposed to increase throughput on the network. After the upgrade, the network should be able to process between 100,000 transactions per second (TPS) and 1,000,000 TPS without compromising the network security.

Cosmos (ATOM)

The Cosmos blockchain registered the third-highest developer activity in 2022. As per the report, there were 511 full-time developers working on the network. Cosmos also has an ambitious roadmap for 2023, which could see further increases in developer activity.

The first major upgrade is the Interchain Security Rollout, followed by the v8-Rho Upgrade, the v9-Lambda Upgrade, the v10-Epsilon, and the v11-Gamma upgrades. All these upgrades will roll out through 2023, projecting healthy developer activity for Cosmos in the coming months.

As such, Santiment data shows that Cosmos has the sixth-highest developer activity in 2023, with 258 notable GitHub commits to its source code. This could be one of the reasons why Cosmos (ATOM) has witnessed a significant price increase since the beginning of the year. At the time of writing, ATOM was changing hands at $12.97, after experiencing a 37 percent increase YTD.

Solana (SOL)

As per the Electric Capital report, there were 383 full-time developers working on Solana at the end of 2022. The number of developers on the platform has grown 10X since 2018, with a further 83 percent jump in 2022. However, the FTX collapse caused SOL prices to plummet, leading to several Solana projects moving to other blockchain networks, such as Ethereum and Polygon.

Fortunately, Solana has made a significant comeback in 2023. At the time of writing, SOL had gained 139 percent YTD. Moreover, the platform has a host of upgrades planned for the rest of the year, starting from the Solana Mobile Stack, an Android-compatible mobile device named the Solana Phone.

Other upgrades include the Firedancer and other network upgrades such as QUIC, Stake-weighted QoS, and Local free markets. These upgrades could see Solana’s developer activity rise once again.

Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin (BTC), often termed the King Coin, is still the market leader a market capitalisation of $436 billion at the time of writing. The world’s oldest blockchain network also came in fifth in terms of developer activity last year. According to the Electric Capital report, there were 300 developers working on the network in 2022.

Bitcoin experienced a devastating bear phase throughout the previous year. The world’s oldest cryptocurrency dropped to $15,000 from its peak of $65,000 in November 2021. However, BTC has made a significant recovery in 2023, rising from its $16,000-post-FTX range to reach $23,014.74 at the time of writing. That translates to a 40 percent increase since the start of the year.

Conclusion

As per the Electric Capital report, there were 23,343 monthly active developers working in the crypto industry as of 2022. That equates to a 297 percent increase since 2018; an encouraging sign for the crypto industry.

Some other notable mentions from Electric Capital’s report include Polygon, Kusama, NEAR, Cardano, and Tezos. This is in line with Santiment data, which puts Kusama and Cardano in first and third place, respectively, in terms of developer activity since the start of 2023.

Metaverse project Decentraland (MANA) and web3 messaging app Status (SNT) bring up the fourth and fifth positions, as per Santiment findings.

It is also worth noting that all these coins have posted significant gains since the start of 2023. Thus, developer activity can provide a fair insight into a project’s future valuation.

However, this is not the only metric one should look at when evaluating a blockchain network. There are plenty of other technical and fundamental indicators that should be examined.

Moreover, cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and prices can fluctuate wildly despite the strongest indicators. Therefore, you should do your own research and invest only as much as you can afford to lose completely.