Developer Report 2021 (Published: January 2021)

developer report
JANUARY — December 2021
1

electricCapital’sannualdeveloperreport:proprietarydata&Community
Electric Capital is a leading Web3 venture firm. We are early-stage investors in many well-known layer-1 platforms,
DeFi protocols, NFT projects, DAOs, and breakout Web3 businesses. Learn more at ElectricCapital.com

We share this data publicly in the hopes of helping the community have a more clear understanding of our collective
progress. We are grateful to everyone in the community who helps by contributing to our Github, the foundations
who help us validate our analysis, and the friends who offer feedback on drafts.

Contributors
2
+100 volunteers in the Web3 community who added to our Github taxonomy and scrubbed data!
Maria  
Shen
Author
@mariashen
Avichal  
Garg
Author
@avichal
Curtis  
Spencer
Data
@jubos
Enrique
Herreros
Data
@eherrerosj
Ken 
Deeter
Data
@puntium
Jim 
Bai
Contributor
Emre 
Caliskan
Contributor
Jeremy  
Carr
Contributor
Ren  
Cryptofish
Contributor
@RenCryptoF
ish
Raphaël
Guilleminot
Contributor
Mitchell 
Hammer
Contributor
Martha 
Shear
Contributor

MOTIVATION & Methodology Overview
An early and leading indicator of value creation in emerging platforms is developer engagement. Developers build
killer applications that deliver value to end users and customers, which attracts more customers, which then draws
more developers. Because Web3 is open-source, we have a unique and unprecedent ability to understand an
emerging industry worth almost $3 trillion.

For the 2021 report, we analyzed nearly 500K code repositories and 160M code commits. The taxonomy of projects
and to which ecosystems they belong is crowdsourced from CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap, DappRadar, DefiLlama,
DefiPulse, Github, Gitlab, and the foundations from many of ecosystems.

We infer non-original commits, which account for 65% of the total, and credit only the original authors and original
ecosystems that produce code. We do not count non- libraries and try our best to eliminate machine generated code
such as config files. More details are in the appendix.

The taxonomy of projects is available at our Github: https://github.com/electric-capital/crypto-ecosystems
3

Caveats
We undercount developers because we rely on open-source repositories only 
There are many more developers than accounted for in our report. Some teams are working on important closed
source projects. Some teams will open-source their code later. We also undercount developers in roles such as
backporting, testing, or release engineering as their efforts may not result in unique code contributions.

It will require more than just software engineers to build products and reach mainstream adoption, so this is a
dramatic undercounting of the number of people building in crypto/Web3.

Not All Commits Are Created Equal 
Some code commits may be routine changes, whereas others represent hours of accumulated research and analysis.
Despite these caveats, we consider the analysis in this report directionally and relatively accurate.

Feedback 
We are always looking to improve. Please share feedback with us at info@electriccapital.com
4

Disclaimer & Disclosure
This Content is for Informational Purposes Only 
You should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
Nothing contained in this report constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Electric
Capital or any third party service provider to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments in this or in any
other jurisdiction in which such solicitation or offer would be unlawful under the securities laws of such jurisdiction.

We may hold tokens in some of the ecosystems mentioned in this report 
We may have previously held, currently hold, or will in the future hold tokens in some of the projects mentioned in
this report. We do not short tokens. Nothing in this report should be construed as financial advice.

For a list of past and present investments, please visit electriccapital.com.

5

18,416 Monthly active developers - an All-time High
7
Web3 Monthly Active Developers Since 2009
Jan 2010 Jan 2012 Jan 2014 Jan 2016 Jan 2018 Jan 2020
Date
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
20,000
Developers
Dec 2021 
All-Time High
18,416

more developers joined Web3 in 2021 than any year in history
8
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
20,000
22,000
24,000
26,000
28,000
30,000
32,000
34,000
3,203 3,416
5,749
14,050
30,224
22,393
20,505
34,391
Developers by Year Joined
Developers
+14%
Year
+4,167

Executive summary
Web3 developers are at an all-time high and growing faster than eve
monthly active developers commit code in open source crypto and Web3 projects -- the highest in histor
new developers committed code in 2021 -- the highest in histor
monthly active open source developers work in Ethereum, open source developers work in Bitcoi
of new Web3 developers join the Ethereum ecosyste
of active developers in Web3 joined in 2021; of full-time developers in Web3 joined in 2021

There are several vibrant ecosystems emerging beyond Bitcoin and Ethereu
Ethereum, Bitcoin, Polkadot, Cosmos, Solana, BSC, NEAR, Avalanche, Tezos, Polygon, Cardano now have developers/month eac
Polkadot, Solana, NEAR, BSC, Avalanche, and Terra are did at the same point in its histor
developers are working on DeFi projects. Less than 1,000 full-time developers are responsible for over $100 billion in total value
locked in smart contracts

The growth of developers in Web3 has been record-breaking, but still represents a small, and rapidly
expanding percent of software engineers globally. We are still in the early innings of Web3.
18,000+
34,391
4,000+ 680+
20%
65% 45%
250+
growing faster than Ethereum
2,500+
9

Let's start by looking at web3 developers...
10

There are now monthly active developers in web3
18,416
12
Date
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
20,000
Developers
Dec 2021

All-Time High
18,416
2019 
Market Capitulation
Devs typically drop off

during the holidays

+7,895 +75%
newmonthlyactivedevelopers sinceJanuary2021
13
Date
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
20,000
Developers
+75%
Jan 2021
10,525
Dec 2021
18,416
+7,895

Monthl
y active Developers have increased when prices increase...
14
Jul 2013 Jul 2014 Jul 2015 Jul 2016 Jul 2017 Jul 2018 Jul 2019 Jul 2020 Jul 2021
Date
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
20,000
Developers
$0.0T
$0.5T
$1.0T
$1.5T
$2.0T
$2.5T
$3.0T
$3.5T
Monthly Developers vs Web3 Network Value
Network
Value
Developer Peak
Network Value ATH
Network Value Peak
Developer ATH

...and overall Developers stay flat even as prices fall
15
Date
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
20,000
Developers
$0.0T
$0.5T
$1.0T
$1.5T
$2.0T
$2.5T
$3.0T
$3.5T
Network
Value
Developers stayed flat...
...even as network value fell
from peak
-83%

In 2018, Developers grew for 1 year after network value peaked
16
Date
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
20,000
Developers
$0.0T
$0.5T
$1.0T
$1.5T
$2.0T
$2.5T
$3.0T
$3.5T
Network
Value
Network Value ATH
Developer ATH
Prices peaked first...
...then one year later developers peaked

if this cycle is like the last, developers could continue to grow until 2023
even if prices peak today
17
Date
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
20,000
Developers
$0.0T
$0.5T
$1.0T
$1.5T
$2.0T
$2.5T
$3.0T
$3.5T
Network
Value
Developers could continue to grow
even if prices begin to fall

let’s segment developers by frequency of code contributions...
18

We can segment developers based on frequency of contribution
19
Web3 Monthly Active Developers
Jan 2014 Jan 2016 Jan 2018 Jan 2020
Date
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
Developers
One Time

Active just
once
Part Time

Active for
fewer than 10
days per month
Full Time

Active for 10
or more days
per month

+1,279 +35%
full-timedevelopers sincejan2021
20
Jan 2014 Jan 2016 Jan 2018 Jan 2020
Date
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
Developers
One Time
Part Time
Full Time
Jan 2021
3,641
Dec 2021
4,920
+35%

+3,247 +3,369
monthly active Part-Time devs; One-Time devs in 2021
21
Jan 2014 Jan 2016 Jan 2018 Jan 2020
Date
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
Developers
One Time
Part Time
Full Time
Dec 2021
8,663
+3,247
Dec 2021
4,833
+3,369
Jan 2021
5,416
Jan 2021
1,464
+230%
+60%

One-Time Dev activity has previously peaked far before full time & Part Time.
22
Jan 2014 Jan 2016 Jan 2018 Jan 2020
Date
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
Developers
One Time
Part Time
Full Time

Let's look at new developers entering web3...
23

Today, more developers have joined per month than during the last bull run
24
Jan 2017 Jan 2018 Jan 2019 Jan 2020 Jan 2021
Month
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
2,200
2,400
2,600
2,800
3,000
3,200
3,400
Developers
1,626
1,993
1,922
1,705
806
995
1,932
804
1,233
1,419
1,633
654
741
1,492
2,113
2,585
636
2,708
2,684
2,556
2,807
2,574
2,216
2,023
2,808
2,547
2,603
2,017
1,388
1,634
1,900
1,731
1,999
1,839
1,755
2,232
1,983
1,868
1,455
1,762
1,555
1,720
1,717
1,716
2,166
1,624
1,682
1,614
1,999
2,926
3,314
2,916
3,262
3,306
3,338
2,921
3,161
1,755
2,996
Web3 Developers by Month Joined
Last Bull Run
Today

more developers joined web3 in 2021 than any year in history
25
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
20,000
22,000
24,000
26,000
28,000
30,000
32,000
34,000
3,203 3,416
5,749
14,050
30,224
22,393
20,505
34,391
Web3 Developers by Year Joined
Developers
+14%
+4,167

More New developers joined when web3 market value increaseD
26
Jan 2015 Jul 2015 Jan 2016 Jul 2016 Jan 2017 Jul 2017 Jan 2018 Jul 2018 Jan 2019 Jul 2019 Jan 2020 Jul 2020 Jan 2021 Jul 2021
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
New
Developers
$0.0T
$0.2T
$0.4T
$0.6T
$0.8T
$1.0T
$1.2T
$1.4T
$1.6T
$1.8T
$2.0T
$2.2T
$2.4T
$2.6T
$2.8T
$3.0T
Network
Value
New Web3 Developers vs. Web3 Network Value

Fewer new developers (but more than 0) have joined when prices
decrease...this offsets developers leaving the ecosystem
27
Jan 2015 Jul 2015 Jan 2016 Jul 2016 Jan 2017 Jul 2017 Jan 2018 Jul 2018 Jan 2019 Jul 2019 Jan 2020 Jul 2020 Jan 2021 Jul 2021
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
New
Developers
$0.0T
$0.2T
$0.4T
$0.6T
$0.8T
$1.0T
$1.2T
$1.4T
$1.6T
$1.8T
$2.0T
$2.2T
$2.4T
$2.6T
$2.8T
$3.0T
Network
Value
New Web3 Developers vs. Web3 Network Value
Fewer new developers join when
network value decreases

how important are these new developers...
28

~60%+ofallmonthlyactivedevelopersarenewin2021
29
Normalized Web3 All Developers by Start Date
Date
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Percent
of
Developers
Before 2016
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
60%+ of active developers
today come from 2021
60%+ of active developers
today come from 2021

~45% of full-time developers are new in 2021
30
Normalized Web3 Full-Time Developers by Start Date
Date
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Percent
of
Developers
Before 2016
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
45% of full-time developers
started in 2021
started in 2021

let’s segment by yearly cohort & trace activity to understand
retention...
31

we can look at developers by annual cohort to see how long they stay
after joining Web3
32
Web3 · Total Developers Active
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
10,000
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Join period Retention period
Dec 2021 
9,000 total devs from 2021
2021
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
Developers
Developer join dynamics differ, but retention dynamics
are similar across years.
The drop-off is less pronounced in full-time developers

Web3 · Full-Time Developers Active
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Dec 2021 
1,600 full-time devs from 2021
2021
Devs typically drop off

during the holidays
* The drop in number of developers at year change is due to seasonal effect of holidays

full-time developers are stickier: 33% of full-time developers from 2018
are still active today vs 22% of all developers from 2018
33
Web3 · Total Developers Active
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
10,000
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Developers
Web3 · Full-Time Developers Active
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
active at the end of 2018 are
active 3+ years later
~22% of developers active
at the end of 2018 are
active 3+ years later

We can look more granularly at retention by monthly cohorts
34
1 2 3 4 5 6
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
15%
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Web3 · Full-Time Developer Retention
Year
Each row represents the developers  
that joined each month
Each column represents the percent of developers from 
that month that commited code the next month

full-time developers have significantly better retention over time:

30% of Full-Time Devs continued to contribute through year 3
35
1 2 3 4 5 6
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Web3 · All Developer Retention
Year 1 2 3 4 5 6
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
15%
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Year
Only 10% of total developers continued
to commit code through Year 2
Only 10% of total developers continued
to commit code through Year 2
On average, 30%+ of full-time developers
continued to commit code through Year 3
On average, 30%+ of full-time developers
continued to commit code through Year 3

Devs who joined near a market peak were the least sticky:

full-time devs who joined late 2017 & Early 2018 did not make it to year 3
36
1 2 3 4 5 6
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Web3 · All Developer Retention
Year 1 2 3 4 5 6
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
15%
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Year
Average 
Rentention

32%
Average 
Rentention

24%
Retention of developers that joined
during ATH have a 25% retention, 8%
less than the previous cohorts
Retention of developers that joined
during ATH have a 25% retention, 8%
less than the previous cohorts
BTC $20k

what are Developers working on? Let’s segment by Ecosystems
37

Ecosystems are comprised of community and protocol level developers
39
Community Developers 
Working on decentralized applications, documentation, 
tooling, wallets, and anything else furthering the project.
Protocol Developers 
Working on the core protocol only

Ecosystem example: Terra
Ecosystems can live in other ecosystems; the Terra ecosystem lives
inside the Cosmos ecosystem.
Terra Communit
Ancho
Mirro
Astropor
Terraswa
Pylo
Loop Financ
...
40
Terra Protoco
core (Go implementation of the
protocol
terra.js (JavaScript SDK
terra.py (Python SDK), LocalTerra
(local testnet), wallet-provider
Terra
Protocol
Developers
Commmunity Developers

Anchor, Mirror, etc.
Parent Ecosystem

“Terra”

let’s start with the top 200 ecosystems by network value...
41
Top 200 determined based on “Market Value” measure as of 12/15/21 on CoinMarketCap

Top 200: monthly active developers by december 2021
11,475
42
Jan 2009 Jan 2011 Jan 2013 Jan 2015 Jan 2017 Jan 2019 Jan 2021
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
10,000
11,000
12,000
13,000
14,000
15,000
16,000
17,000
18,000
19,000
20,000
Top 200
All Web3
Top 200 vs All Web3
Date
Developers
Dec 2021
11,475
Dec 2021
18,416

Top 200: monthly active developers since jan 2021
+4,564 +66%
43
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
10,000
11,000
12,000
13,000
14,000
15,000
16,000
17,000
18,000
19,000
20,000
Top 200
All Web3
Top 200 vs All Web3
Date
Developers
Jan 2021
6,911
+66%
Dec 2021
11,475
+4,564

developersarebranchingout:

growthrateoutsidetop200ecosystems outpacesethandBTCgrowth
+86%
44
Top 200 from 2021 (Excluding Bitcoin & Ethereum) vs Other Ecosystems
Date
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
Developers
Bitcoin
Ethereum
Outside Top
200
Top 200· 2021 
excl. Bitcoin
& Ethereum
Jan 2021
2,827
"Other" category represents ecosystems 
with Network Value below the Top 200
Dec 2021
4,011
+1,184
Dec 2021
7,045
+3,272
Jan 2021
3,773

ThedeclineinDevsworkingintop200projectsbefore2019highlightsthe
growthandRetentionofthebitcoinandethereumecosystems
45
Date
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
Developers
Bitcoin
Ethereum
2021·Top 200
2020·Top 200
2019·Top 200
2018·Top 200
2017·Top 200
2016·Top 200
Top 200 from 2016 to 2021
Top 200 ecosystems from 2018 and 
earlier lost developers in 2021

Let’s look more deeply at the sustained growth of Bitcoin &
Ethereum...
46

+9%growthinmonthlyactivedeveloperssinceJan2021
48
Bitcoin Monthly Active Developers
Jan 2010 Jan 2020
Jan 2012 Jan 2014 Jan 2016 Jan 2018
Date
800
700
600
500
300
400
200
100
0
Developers
Dec 2021
673
+56
+9%
Jan 2021
617

+14%growthinmonthlyactivepart-timedevelopers
49
Jan 2010 Jan 2020
Jan 2012 Jan 2014 Jan 2016 Jan 2018
Date
300
250
400
350
200
150
100
50
0
Developers
Full-Time
Contributors
One-Time
Contributors
Part-Time
Contributors
Dec 2021
347
+42
Jan 2021
305
+14%

+8%growthinmonthlyactiveFulL-timedevelopers
50
Jan 2010 Jan 2020
Jan 2012 Jan 2014 Jan 2016 Jan 2018
Date
300
250
400
350
200
150
100
50
0
Developers
Full-Time
Contributors
One-Time
Contributors
Part-Time
Contributors
+8%
Dec 2021
224
+16
Jan 2021
208

Bitcoin has a consistent pipeline of 100+ new devs coming in per month
51
Bitcoin Developers by Month Joined
Month
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
180
Developers
91
110
85
68
89
95
63
62
54
61
88
77
135
135
150
113
107
79
137
94
81
107
119
116
116
137
112
114
96
136
99
121
103
106
101
96
113
112
107
124
114
109
129
91
101
87
86
130
115
118
168
117
129
122
114
136
119
140
116

Ethereum: monthly active developers since Jan 2021
+1,184 +42%
53
Ethereum Monthly Active Developers
Jan 2016 Jan 2018 Jan 2020
Jan 2017 Jan 2019 Jan 2021
Jan 2015
Date
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
500
1,500
2,500
3,500
0
Developers
Dec 2021
4,011
+1,184
Jan 2021
2,827
+42%

Ethereum: monthly active part-time developers since jan 2021
+705 +51%
54
Date
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
2,200
Developers
One-Time
Contributors
Part-Time
Contributors
Full-Time
Contributors
+51%
Dec 2021
2,081
+705
Jan 2021
1,376

Ethereum: monthly active Full-time developers since Jan 2021
+258 +24%
55
Date
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
2,200
Developers
One-Time
Contributors
Part-Time
Contributors
Full-Time
Contributors
+24%
Nov 2021
1,312
+258
Jan 2021
1,054

700+ at an all-time high
new developers joining Ethereum every month is
56
Ethereum Developers by Month Joined
Month
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Developers
263
346
264
258
335
103
236
259
169
95
100
104
549
460
459
587
495
724
486
438
587
457
484
357
380
415
407
469
365
311
364
376
404
394
384
349
384
508
393
625
500
544
468
666
378
349
368
409
519
695
798
813
579
711
718
772
649
754
780
2021
All-Time High

Ethereum consistently draws 20-25% of developers coming to Web3
57
Developers by Month Joined
0
400
800
1,200
1,600
2,000
2,400
2,800
3,200
3,600
4,000
4,400
Developers
263
346
264
258
335
103
236
259
169
95
100
104
549
460
459
587
495
724
486
438
587
457
484
357
380
415
407
469
365
311
364
376
404
394
384
349
384
508
393
625
500
544
468
666
378
349
368
409
519
695
798
813
579
711
718
772
649
754
780
1,626
1,994
1,921
741
654
1,419
1,705
1,932
636
995
1,633
804
1,233
1,492
806
2,556
2,024
2,544
2,600
2,706
2,113
2,573
2,807
2,684
2,217
2,808
2,583
1,755
1,999
1,387
1,632
1,898
1,729
2,017
2,233
1,982
1,840
1,624
1,762
2,166
1,555
1,454
1,868
1,717
1,682
1,716
1,721
1,614
2,924
3,314
3,305
1,753
3,262
3,335
3,160
2,996
2,920
2,914
1,998
Ethereum
Other
Date

WE can compare the annual cohort retention in ETHEREUM to see how long
developers stay in the ecosystem
58
Ethereum · Full-Time Developers Active after Start date
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
550
600
650
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Developers
2016
Ethereum · Total Developers Active After Start Date
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
2,200
2,400
2,600
2,800
3,000
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021

ethereum has some of the best retention in Web3:

30% of full-time Devs who joined after 2017 stayed beyond year 4
59
1 2 3 4 5 6
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Ethereum · All Developer Retention
Year 1 2 3 4 5 6
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
15%
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Ethereum · Full-Time Developer Retention
Year
30% of Developers who joined in 2017
stayed through Year 5
30% of Developers who joined in 2017
stayed through Year 5

how does the growth of individual ecosystems compare?
60

We can compare dec 2020 vs. dec 2021 per ecosystem to visualize growth
61
200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000 2,200 2,400 2,600 2,800 3,000 3,200 3,400 3,600 3,800
0
Total Developers - December 2020
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
2,200
2,400
2,600
2,800
3,000
3,200
3,400
3,600
3,800
4,000
4,200
4,400
0
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
2020: 840

2021: 1400
Dec 2020: 2,980

Dec 2021: 3,920
Ethereum
Polkadot
Total Developers
Gained Developers
Lost Developers
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs
The y-axis indicates the average  
monthly Full-Time developers in 2021
The x-axis indicates the average
monthly Full-Time developers in
2020
We only count open-source developers. The numbers are averages for the whole month of December and might slightly defer with December numbers from earlier time series.

Full-time, part-time & One-time developers:

EThereum by far the largest & 2.8x larger than the Next
62
200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000 2,200 2,400 2,600 2,800 3,000 3,200 3,400 3,600 3,800
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
2,200
2,400
2,600
2,800
3,000
3,200
3,400
3,600
3,800
4,000
4,200
4,400
0
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
Ethereum
Polkadot
Total Developers
Gained Developers
Lost Developers
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs

Ethereum, Polkadot, Cosmos, SOLANA, & Bitcoin are the 5 largest ecosystems
63
200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000 2,200 2,400 2,600 2,800 3,000 3,200 3,400 3,600 3,800
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
2,200
2,400
2,600
2,800
3,000
3,200
3,400
3,600
3,800
4,000
4,200
4,400
0
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
Ethereum
Polkadot
Total Developers
Gained Developers
Lost Developers
Solana Cosmos
Bitcoin
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs
There are many developers working on closed-source tooling in Bitcoin, e.g. custodians and exchanges. Solana has more of a culture of closed-source development, so may appear smaller.

the Bitcoin ecosystem gained developers in 2021 but fell to the 5th largest
ecosystem. does it matter?
64
200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000 2,200 2,400 2,600 2,800 3,000 3,200 3,400 3,600 3,800
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
2,200
2,400
2,600
2,800
3,000
3,200
3,400
3,600
3,800
4,000
4,200
4,400
0
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
Ethereum
Polkadot
Total Developers
Gained Developers
Lost Developers
Solana Cosmos
Bitcoin
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs
Bitcoin gained average monthly
active developers in 2021, but for
the first time is no longer the
second biggest ecosystem

Let’s zoom in to make it easier to understand and visualize
65
200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000 2,200 2,400 2,600 2,800 3,000 3,200 3,400 3,600 3,800
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
2,200
2,400
2,600
2,800
3,000
3,200
3,400
3,600
3,800
4,000
4,200
4,400
0
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
Ethereum
Polkadot
Total Developers
Gained Developers
Lost Developers
Solana Cosmos
Bitcoin
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs
Let’s focus on this range

zooming in on ecosystems with 300-1000 developers....
66

ecosystems between 300-1000 developers:

Solana almost 5x’d total developers; NEAR 4x’d total developers
67
100 200 300 400 500
50 150 250 350 450 550 600 650 700 750 800 850 900
0
400
600
300
500
700
800
900
200
100
1,000
150
250
350
450
550
650
750
850
950
50
0
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
Bitcoin
Cardano
Cosmos
Binance Smart Chain
Solana
Polygon
NEAR
Kusama
Total Developers
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs
2x
3x
Gained
Developers
Lost
Developers
4x

Polygon more than 2x’d monthly Developers

while Cardano was +90%, BSC +80%, Cosmos +70%, Bitcoin +10%
68
100 200 300 400 500
50 150 250 350 450 550 600 650 700 750 800 850 900
0
400
600
300
500
700
800
900
200
100
1,000
150
250
350
450
550
650
750
850
950
50
0
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
Bitcoin
Cardano
Cosmos
Binance Smart Chain
Solana
Polygon
NEAR
Total Developers
Kusama
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs
2x
3x
Gained Developers
Lost Developers
4x

zooming in on ecosystems with 50+ developers...
69


Terra, ICP
, Fantom, and harmony more than 4x’d developers
70
250
150 200
50 100
0
200
100
0
20
40
60
80
120
140
160
180
220
240
260
280
300
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
EOS
Monero
IOTA
Tezos
Chainlink
XRP
Basic Attention Token
Status
Gnosis
Stacks
Filecoin
Internet Computer
Harmony
Hedera Hashgraph
Fantom
Helium
Terra
Algorand
Elrond
Celo
Avalanche
Moonriver
Total Developers
2x
3x
Gained
Developers
Lost
Developers
4x
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs
Data artifact: Filecoin devs spiked
temporarily because of mainnet
launch in late 2020. This brought in a
large number of one-time devs.
Data artifact: Filecoin devs spiked
temporarily because of mainnet
launch in late 2020. This brought in a
large number of one-time devs.


avalanche and Algorand more than 3x’d developers
71
250
150 200
50 100
0
200
100
0
20
40
60
80
120
140
160
180
220
240
260
280
300
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
EOS
Monero
IOTA
Tezos
Chainlink
XRP
Status
Gnosis
Stacks
Filecoin
Internet Computer
Harmony
Hedera Hashgraph
Fantom
Helium
Terra
Elrond
Celo
Moonriver
Total Developers
2x
3x
Gained
Developers
Lost
Developers
4x
Algorand
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs
Avalanche


CHAINLINK, HEDERA, and MOONRIVER 2x’d monthl
y active developers
72
250
150 200
50 100
0
200
100
0
20
40
60
80
120
140
160
180
220
240
260
280
300
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
EOS
Monero
IOTA
Tezos
Chainlink
XRP
Status
Gnosis
Stacks
Filecoin
Internet Computer
Harmony
Algorand
Hedera Hashgraph
Fantom
Helium
Terra
Elrond
Celo
Avalanche
Moonriver
Total Developers
2x
3x
Gained
Developers
Lost
Developers
4x
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs

ecosystems between 51-300 developers: tezos, celo, stacks, IOTA, BAsic
attention token, Status, gnosis, elrond, and helium all gained developers
73
250
150 200
50 100
0
200
100
0
20
40
60
80
120
140
160
180
220
240
260
280
300
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
EOS
Monero
IOTA
Tezos
Chainlink
XRP
Status
Gnosis
Stacks
Filecoin
Internet Computer
Algorand
Harmony
Hedera Hashgraph
Fantom
Helium
Terra
Elrond
Celo
Avalanche
Moonriver
Total Developers
2x
3x
Gained Developers
Lost Developers
4x 2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs

most ecosystems lost fewer than 10 devs between 2020 and 2021;

some projects may lose devs because of developer spikes the previous year
74
250
150 200
50 100
0
200
100
0
20
40
60
80
120
140
160
180
220
240
260
280
300
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
EOS
Monero
IOTA
Tezos
Chainlink
XRP
Status
Gnosis
Stacks
Filecoin
Internet Computer
Algorand
Harmony
Hedera Hashgraph
Fantom
Helium
Terra
Elrond
Celo
Avalanche
Moonriver
Total Developers
2x
3x
Gained
Developers
Lost
Developers
4x
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs

Top 10 fastest growing ecosystems with 50+ Developers
Growth of Total Monthly Developers 
Dec 2021 vs. Dec 2020

Growth of Full-Time Monthly Developers 
Dec 2021 vs. Dec 2020
75
1. Fantom 389%
2. Solana 385%
3. Internet Computer 368%
4. NEAR 307%
5. Terra 305%
6. Harmony 281%
7. Algorand 259%
8. Avalanche 235%
9. Chainlink 144%
10. Polygon 136%
1. Terra 313%
2. Solana 307%
3. NEAR 291%
4. Fantom 271%
5. Avalanche 179%
6. Polygon 175%
7. Kusama 162%
8. Internet Computer 146%
9. Moonriver 125%
10. Algorand 116%

Looking at full-time developers only can smooth out  
noise from one-time developers...
76

we can compare Full-time devs (10+ commits/month): Dec 2020 vs Dec 2021
77
Full-Time Developers
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1,000 1,100 1,200 1,300
Full-Time Developers - December 2020
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1,000
1,100
1,200
1,300
1,400
1,500
Full-Time
Developers
-
December
2021
Ethereum
Gained
Developers
Lost
Developers
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs

ethereum, polkadot, cosmos, solana, bitcoin, near, cardano, and kusama are
ecosystems with 100+ full-time developers (10+ commits/month)
78
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1,000 1,100 1,200
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1,000
1,100
1,200
1,300
0
1,400
Full-Time
Developers
-
December
2021
Ethereum
Polkadot
Gained
Developers
Lost
Developers
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs
Solana
Cosmos
Bitcoin
Cardano
NEAR
Kusama

Let’s zoom in to ecosystems with between 50 and 300 full-time developers
79
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1,000 1,100 1,200
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1,000
1,100
1,200
1,300
0
1,400
Full-Time
Developers
-
December
2021
Ethereum
Polkadot
Solana
Cosmos
Bitcoin
Cardano
NEAR
Kusama
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs
Gained Developers
Lost Developers

for ecosystems with 50+ full-time developers:

Solana and NEAR 4x’d their full-time devs
80
100
80 120 140
60
40 50 70 90 110 130 150
30
20
10
0 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290
200
100
40
60
80
120
140
160
180
220
240
260
280
300
320
20
0
340
Full-Time
Developers
-
December
2021
Bitcoin
Cardano
Cosmos
Solana
NEAR
Kusama
2x
3x
Gained
Developers
Lost
Developers
4x
Filecoin
Tezos
Binance Smart Chain
Avalanche
Polygon
Celo
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs

for ecosystems with 50+ full-time developers:

Kusama, Pol
ygon, and avalanche more than 2x'd their full-time devs
81
100
80 120 140
60
40 50 70 90 110 130 150
30
20
10
0 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290
200
100
40
60
80
120
140
160
180
220
240
260
280
300
320
20
0
340
Full-Time
Developers
-
December
2021
Bitcoin
Cardano
Cosmos
Solana
NEAR
Kusama
2x
3x
Gained
Developers
Lost
Developers
4x
Filecoin
Tezos
Binance Smart Chain
Avalanche
Polygon
Celo
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs

COSMOS, Bitcoin, Cardano, bsc, and Celo all gained monthly active devs
82
100
80 120 140
60
40 50 70 90 110 130 150
30
20
10
0 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290
200
100
40
60
80
120
140
160
180
220
240
260
280
300
320
20
0
340
Full-Time
Developers
-
December
2021
Bitcoin
Cardano
Cosmos
Solana
NEAR
Kusama
2x
3x
Gained Developers
Lost Developers
4x
Filecoin
Tezos
Binance Smart Chain
Avalanche
Polygon
Celo
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs

For ecosystems with 20-50 full-time devs:

terra and fantom more than 3x’D
83
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0 40
40
30
20
10
0
50
5
15
25
35
45
Full-Time
Developers
-
December
2021
IOTA
Status
Gnosis
Stacks
Internet Computer
Algorand
Terra
Elrond
Maker
Chainlink
Decentraland
Hedera Hashgraph
Fantom
Balancer
2x
3x
Gained
Developers
Lost
Developers

ALGORAND, internet computer and balancer more than 2x’d
84
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0 40
40
30
20
10
0
50
5
15
25
35
45
Full-Time
Developers
-
December
2021
IOTA
Status
Gnosis
Stacks
Internet Computer
Algorand
Terra
Elrond
Maker
Chainlink
Decentraland
Hedera Hashgraph
Fantom
Balancer
Gained
Developers
Lost
Developers
2x
3x

But these ecosystems launched at different times.

Let’s normalize launch date...
85

Let’s start by looking at the largest and most valuable
Ecosystems...
86

We can compare developer growth by indexing at the day of the first commit
87
0 400 800 1,200 1,600 2,000 2,400 2,800 3,200 3,600 4,000
Days Since First Commit
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
Total
Developers
NEAR
Ethereum
Polygon
Bitcoin
Solana
Cardano
Tezos
Cosmos
Algorand
Binance Smart Chain
Flow
Avalanche
Stacks Fantom
Internet Computer
Polkadot
Celo
Terra
Monthly Active Developers Since Launch | 80+ Avg Developers

EThereum, Polkadot, Cosmos, Solana, and Bitcoin have the largest
ecosystems - but they have taken very different paths to get here
88
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
Total
Developers
NEAR
Ethereum
Polygon
Bitcoin
Solana
Cardano
Tezos
Cosmos
Algorand
Binance Smart Chain
Flow
Avalanche
Stacks Fantom
Internet Computer
Polkadot
Celo
Terra
0 800 1,200 1,600 2,000 2,400 2,800 3,200 3,600 4,000
400

let’s zoom in to emerging ecosystems
89
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
Total
Developers
NEAR
Ethereum
Polygon
Bitcoin
Solana
Cardano
Tezos
Cosmos
Algorand
Binance Smart Chain
Flow
Avalanche
Stacks Fantom
Internet Computer
Polkadot
Celo
Terra
0 800 1,200 1,600 2,000 2,400 2,800 3,200 3,600 4,000
400
Next, let’s focus on this range
Next, let’s focus on this range

BSC, avalanche, NEAR, Cardano, POlygon, and Tezos have 250+ developers
90
0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800
2,000
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
Total
Developers
NEAR
Polygon
Cardano
Tezos
Algorand
Binance Smart Chain
Flow
Avalanche
Stacks
Fantom
Internet Computer
Celo
Terra
Monthly Active Developers Since Launch | Exclude Ethereum, Polkadot, Cosmos, Solana, Bitcoin
Above 250 Monthly Active Developers
Only open-source developers are counted. Some Layer-1s like Avalanche, Terra, and Flow have more close-source repositories and will appear smaller.

there are many new emerging ecosystems with 50+ full-time devs
91
0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Full-Time
Developers
NEAR
Polygon
Cardano
Tezos
Algorand
Binance Smart Chain
Flow
Avalanche
Stacks
Fantom
Internet Computer
Celo
Terra
Only open-source developers are counted. Some Layer-1s like Avalanche, Terra, and Flow have more close-source repositories and will appear smaller.

Let’s Zoom in to breakout layer-1 ecosystems...
92

how do the top layer-1 ecosystems (based on NETWORK value) Compare?
93
0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000
2,200
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
Total
Developers
Bitcoin
Ethereum
Solana
Terra
NEAR
Cosmos
Polkadot
Cardano
Binance Smart Chain
Avalanche
Fantom
Elrond
Monthly Active Developers Since Launch | Top-10 Ecosystem by Network Value vs Ethereum vs Bitcoin
Day: 2,914

Devs: 4,011
Day: 3,650

Devs: 673

Polkadot,Solana,NEAR,BSC,Avalanche,andTerrahave

fasterinitialecosystemgrowththanETHEREUM
94
0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000
2,200
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
Total
Developers
Monthly Developers Since Launch | Ecosystems with Faster Initial Growth than Ethereum
Solana
Terra
NEAR
Binance Smart Chain
Avalanche
Polkadot
Ethereum
Day: 2,914

Devs: 4,011

Full-Time Developers: POlkadot, near, solana, and BSC have more full-time
devs than Ethereum at the same point after first code commit
95
0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000
2,200
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
550
Full-Time
Developers
Solana
Terra
NEAR
Polkadot
Binance Smart Chain
Avalanche
Full-Time Monthly Developers Since Launch | Ecosystems with Faster Initial Growth than Ethereum
Ethereum
Day: 2,914

Devs: 4,011

That being said, building community takes years:

most communities take 2+ Years to attract 100+ developers
96
0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800
2,000
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
Total
Developers
NEAR
Polygon
Cardano
Tezos
Algorand
Binance Smart Chain
Flow
Avalanche
Stacks
Fantom
Internet Computer
Celo
Terra
Only open-source developers are counted. Some Layer-1s like Avalanche, Terra, amd Flow have more close-source repositories and will appear smaller.

many ecosystems are now ethereum virtual machine (Evm)
compatible to attract developers.

How is that going?
97

30%
+1,980 +58%
of all developers are writing code on an etherum virtual machine
compatible layer-1s: monthl
y primary devs since Jan 2021
98
EVM Layer-1s Monthly Active Developers
Date
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
4,500
5,000
5,500
Developers
Jan 2021
3,424
Dec 2021
5,404
+1,980
+58%

EVM-compatible layer-1s excluding Ethereum grew by in 2021...

EVM-Compatible chains are growing faster than Ethereum!
+120%
99
Ethereum and Other EVM Layer-1s since 2015
Date
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
4,500
Developers
Ethereum
EVM Layer-1s
Dec 2021
4,011
+1184
Jan 2021
2,827
Dec 2021
1,475
+803
Jan 2021

672
Ethereum
Some Developers work across EVM Layer-1s and Ethereum. The sum of these two lines will be greater than total developers in EVM-compatible chains.
+120%
+42%

Are these developers copying code from ethereum or primarily
contributing to the new evm chains?
100

does being evm-compatible allow for new, self-sufficient ecosystems?

in some cases, yes
Primary Contributors 
Developers working on projects whose token lives on the same
chain as the smart contract. Even if the code is copy/pasted, these
developers are commited to the new cchain more than Ethereum.

Cross-Chain Contributors 
Work on projects that serve users on Chain A, but whose primary
governance token lives on Chain B. This implies these developers
are not primarily committed to Chain A.
101

Some chains like POlygon have more cross-chain developers (building on
both ethereum and polygon) than primary developers
102
Polygon Primary & Cross-Chain Developers
Date
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Developers
Primary
Developers
Cross-Chain
Developers
Jan 2021
395
Dec 2021
674

Avalanche has seen a surge in primary developers after bootstrapping off
of cross-chain devs
103
Avalanche Primary & Cross-Chain Developers
Date
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
Developers
Primary
Developers
Cross-Chain
Developers
Dec 2021
274
Dec 2021
185
Starting August 2021, Avalanche almost has the  
same amount of developers in Primary and Cross-Chain

celo has close to 2x primary developers vs. cross-chain developers, also
bootstrapped by first having primarily cross-chain devs
104
Celo Primary & Cross-Chain Developers
Date
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
220
240
260
280
Developers
Primary
Developers
Cross-Chain
Developers
Dec 2021
198
Dec 2021
69

it looks like bootstrapping a new ecosystem via evm
compatability can work!
105

defi has grown with overall developer growth to Developers
+76% 2,571
107
Jan 2016
Jan 2015
Date
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
2,200
2,400
200
2,600
0
Developers
Decentralized Finance Monthly Active Developers
Jan 2021
1,458
Dec 2021
2,571
+1184
+76%

DEFI full-time monthly active contributors grew
developers steward smart contracts with in assets
+64%

~1,000 $100+ billion
108
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
Developers
One Time
Part Time
Full-Time
Decentralized Finance Monthly Active Developers
Date
Dec 2021
787
+306
Dec 2021
481
+64%

500+ new developers started developing in defi every month in 2021
109
Month
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
550
600
650
Developers
274
79
35
44
119
32
100
67
70
90
36
114
42
95
45
23
140
116
140
146
117
124
154
140
167
113
220
96
107
97
114
151
107
286
108
357
116
121
129
111
128
387
329
148
234
401
125
548
136
505
383
647
595
629
590
601
639
539
570
Decentralized Finance Developers by Month Joined

Olympusdaodidnotexistoneyearagoandhas devs

Osmosis,TraderJoewentfrom0to devs
60
30+
110
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
0
65
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
Maker
Synthetix
Uniswap Aave
Balancer
Vega Protocol
Trader Joe
Osmosis
Olympus DAO
Mango
Lido
Total Decentralized Finance Developers
Gained Developers
Lost Developers
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs
These ecosystems didn’t exist in 2020

vega protocol more than 4x’d, while Balancer, synthetix and uniswap more
than 2x’d the number of monthly developers
111
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
0
65
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
Maker
Synthetix
Uniswap
Aave
Balancer
Vega Protocol
Trader Joe
Osmosis
Olympus DAO
Mango
Lido
2x 1x
3x
Gained Developers
Lost Developers
4x 2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs

ecosystems with 20 to 30 developers: acala, Injective protocol AND beefy
finance more than 2x’d in 2021
112
10 15 20 25 30
5
0
10
20
6
8
12
14
16
18
22
24
26
28
4
2
0
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
THORChain
Set Protocol
Acala
Serum
Beefy.Finance
Injective Protocol
Sifchain
Centrifuge
Tinlake
Composable Finance
2x 1x
3x
Gained Developers
Lost Developers
New in
2021
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs

zooming in into defi ecosystems with 10 to 20 developers
113
10 15 20 25 30
5
0
10
20
6
8
12
14
16
18
22
24
26
28
4
2
0
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
THORChain
Set Protocol
Acala
Serum
Beefy.Finance
Injective Protocol
Sifchain
Centrifuge
Tinlake
Composable Finance
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs

ecosystems with 10 to 20 developers like rari capital, Instadapp
, badger,
certus one or alpaca finance more than 3x’d in 2021
114
12.0
14.0
16.0
18.0
13.0
15.0
17.0
11.5
12.5
13.5
14.5
15.5
16.5
17.5
18.5
11.0
10.5
19.0
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
TrueUSD
0x
Loopring
Polymath
Keep Network
InstaD
App
Connext Network
Ankr
Kava
Labs
Curve
UMA
Dev Protocol
Tellor
Sushi
Swap
Interlay
Harvest Finance
Pickle
Finance
mstable
Argent
1inch
Rari
Capital
Alpaca
Finance
ApeSwap Finance
Badger DAO
Pangolin
TrueFi
Element
Finance
Ares Protocol
interBTC
badger finance
FABRIC
Jet Protocol
StakeFi
Anoma
Grid Singularity
Mangata Finance
Onomy
Thales
Certus One Superfluid
Minswap
Solarbeam
Balanced
GooseFX
0 5 10 15 20 25
2x 1x
3x
G
a
i
n
e
d
D
e
v
e
l
o
p
e
r
s
L
o
s
t
D
e
v
e
l
o
p
e
r
s
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs

projects such as alpaca, apeswap, thales, jet, minswap, solarbeam, and
goosefx started with 0 and have established teams of 10+
115
12.0
14.0
16.0
18.0
13.0
15.0
17.0
11.5
12.5
13.5
14.5
15.5
16.5
17.5
18.5
11.0
10.5
19.0
Total
Developers
-
December
2021
TrueUSD
0x
Loopring
Polymath
Keep Network
InstaD
App
Connext Network
Ankr
Kava
Labs
Curve
UMA
Dev Protocol
Tellor
Sushi
Swap
Interlay
Harvest Finance
Pickle
Finance
mstable
Argent
1inch
Rari
Capital
Alpaca
Finance
ApeSwap Finance
Badger DAO
Pangolin
TrueFi
Element
Finance
Ares Protocol
interBTC
badger finance
FABRIC
Jet Protocol
StakeFi
Anoma
Grid Singularity
Mangata Finance
Onomy
Thales
Certus One Superfluid
Minswap
Solarbeam
Balanced
GooseFX
0 5 10 15 20 25
G
a
i
n
e
d
D
e
v
e
l
o
p
e
r
s
L
o
s
t
D
e
v
e
l
o
p
e
r
s
2000+ devs
1001-2000 devs
301-1000 devs
101-300 devs
51-100 devs
41-50 devs
31-40 devs
21-30 devs
11-20 devs
2-10 devs
1 dev
0 devs
2x
3x 1x
These ecosystems didn’t exist in 2020

What about NFTs, dAOs, and gaming?
116

developer engagement is not the best lens for all ecosystems
NFTs, Gaming, and DAOs - New Community Signals Coming Soon

We did not deep dive into NFTs, DAOs, and Gaming since aggregate developer metrics alone may be misleading and
may not be the correct leading indicator to consider. In these markets, a relatively small number of developers can
build reusable components and the amount of smart contract code written will be small relative to community
engagement. For example, a very small amount of code written by just one developer might drive a large PFP NFT
project ecosystem. Or in the case of games, the majority of code may be off chain and closed source, thereby making
extrapolation from on-chain and open source data very noisy.

We believe community engagement signals are an important and complementary leading indicator for the NFT,
Gaming, and DAO markets. We are working on several novel ways to gather community data and signals and will
share our results later in 2022.
117

putting the web3 ecosystem

in context
118

web3 developer Growth
119
2016
2,020
2017
5,791
2018
9,895
2019
10,162
2020
10,526 2021
18,581

Developers in Web3 vs. Developers at select companies
120
Goldman Sachs
9,000
Web3
18,416
Amazon
36,000
https://www.daxx.com/blog/development-trends/number-software-developers-world

developers in Web3 vs. Developers in select Countries
121
Web3
18,416
Poland
295,000
Russia
412,000
France
533,000
UK
849,000
Germany
901,000
US
4,300,000
India
5,800,000
https://www.daxx.com/blog/development-trends/number-software-developers-world

web3 vs. all developers in the world
122
Web3
18,416
C#
7,100,000
PHP
7,300,000
C/C++
7,500,000
Java
9,400,000
Python
11,300,000
Javascript
16,500,000
All Developers
26,900,000
https://www.developernation.net/developer-reports/dn21

Web3 is just getting started
The growth of developers in Web3 represents a small, yet rapidly expanding portion of
software engineers globally

Side by side with the largest Web2 internet companies (e.g. Facebook, Google), the Web3 developer contigent is
comparable in size. As a new industry or technology (e.g. PHP, Python), Web3 has plenty of headroom.

NFTs, Gaming, DAOs and Future Use Cases

Considering the breadth of possible applications, there is much to be excited about. Web3 is not just about
cryptocurrencies and trading; many developers are attracted by the possibility to innovate on new platforms. A wide
range of primitives, protocols, and applications around NFTs, gaming, DeFi, and DAOs are yet to be created.
123

Help map the web3 ecosystem
We’ve opened our ecosystem map on GitHub so that anyone can contribute
Check out our ecosystem mappin
Submit a new ecosystem via our form on Airtable
Or submit a pull request in our Github: https://github.com/electric-capital/crypto-ecosystems

We will use this data for our reports going forward.
125

Thank you
Aliaksandr Hudzilin 
@aliaksandrh

Vlad Grichina 
@vgrichina

Illia Polosukhin 
@ilblackdragon

Josh Ford  
TBC

Kaitlin Pike 
@kcpike

Alex Graebe 
@agraebe

Diwaker Gupta 
@diwakergupta

Eric Kang 
@exk200
Raphael 
@raphaelsignal

Linda Lu 
@lindalu1111

Dawn Song 
@dawnsongtweets

Ryan Gentry 
@ryanthegentry

Elizabeth Stark 
@starkness

Steve Lee 
@moneyball

Jovica Popovic 
@jpop_32

Leart Ulaj 
@leartulaj
Elena Giralt 
TBC

Joe Bender 
@josephbender

Mitchell Cuevas 
@mcuevasm

Li Jiang 
@lijiang2087

Giv Parveneh 
@givp

Hamzah Khan 
@khamzah22

Sanket Shah 
@sourcex44

Patrick O’Grady 
@_patrickogrady

Kuleen Nimkar 
@knimkar

Max Murphy 
TBC

Stanford Liu 
TBC

Do Kwon 
@stablekwon

Michael Chen 
@cryptomhchn

Roham Gharegozlou 
@rohamg

Andrea Muttoni 
@muttonia

John Safy 
TBC
Jiten Oswal 
@jitenoswal

Philip Liu 
@philipliujr
126

Thank you · Github contributors
Amy Slawson

Billy Rennekamp

bobinson

Daniel Ogbuti

darkfriend77

devELIOper

Egbon Osasere Cedric

Elliot Lee

Elrondex

francisco-leal

Gregory Rocco

Guilherme Gavazzoni

Hieu Phan

Horlong Kizito

Igor Lilic

Ihor Verkhohliad

Jonathan Dunne

Kakoma

Kevin Neilson

Khafid Prayoga

Matthew Sevey

medvedev1088

midegdugarova

Mitesh Mandey

moreplatesmoredates

mutugiii

Nihat Gurmen

Osariemen Osaretin Frank

Shae Wang

Sunil Srivatsa

Thompson

trungng1992

uncle-T0ny

Weilei Y

wi1dcard

zavodil

Zviad Metreveli

Andrea Muttoni  
maverickmuttoni

Athul Sanjose 
UltimateRoman

Blessed Igberase 
Blisado1

Eduardo Puentes 
Eduardo-Puentes

Jason Rodrigues 
reachjason

Kyrylo Doma 
doma2k

Mark Tsyrulnyk 
markblaize

Muhideen Mujeeb Adeoye 
Mujhtech

Ryan Gentry 
ryanthegentry

Steffen Krogmann
steffenkrogmann

ThriftyOldStudent 
Asvoria

Vaibhav Chopra 
sudo-vaibhav
Agorist-Action

anhnt18

apprises

bdev07

calianlucian

e-gons

iamoracle

jiten-gupta

Jordan-type

Pyzeur-ColonyLab

sandymandy12

Shuqroh

T3CHMO

Tamara-Ebi-Pere-Victor

Web-Logistics

yexiaozhu05
127

Commit Counting Methodology: Not all code commits are created equal
Forks 
Only new code counts towards developer activity. We omit code
and developer activity from merging changes from the upstream
codebase.

Fingerprinting 
Fingerprinting is a technique used to identify commits originating
from upstream projects. We look at the files and lines changed, the
commit message, committer, author, and associated dates. This
eliminates copy/pasted code from counting towards an ecosystem.

Commits from Integrating Open Source Libraries 
Integrating common libraries does not count toward code activity.

Branches 
We look at commits from all branches (master/development, etc.)
and tags. We look beyond Github's default view, which can be
incomplete.

Limitations 
We only look at open-source repositories. There are many
repositories that are not yet open-source. However, we are
planning to enrich the open-source code data with deployed on-
chain smart contract code.
129

How are developers counted?
Developers 
We count original code authors as developers. This means that a
developer who merges a pull request is not an active developer on
the project, but the original authors of the commits are.

Full-Time Contributors 
Contributed code 10+ days out of a month

Part Time Contributors 
Contributed code fewer than 10 days out of a month

One Time Contributors 
Contributed code once in a rolling 3-month window

Monthly Developer 
We count commits during the next 28 days of the commit
happening to generate more stability in the data

Top-200 category 
Any ecosystem that has been in the Top 200 rank by network
valuation for at least 90 days in the corresponding year

130

Developer Report 2021 (Published: January 2021)

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