Solana Surpasses Ethereum as Top Ecosystem for New Developers in 2024: Report

As a researcher with years of experience diving into blockchain ecosystems and their development dynamics, I have to admit that the recent shift in developer activity towards Solana is quite intriguing. While Ethereum has been the undisputed leader in this regard for some time, it’s refreshing to see a new player like Solana outpacing it in terms of developer growth.

According to Electric Capital’s 2024 Developer Report, it’s been found for the first time since 2016 that more developers have chosen Solana over Ethereum as their preferred blockchain platform.

The groundbreaking development underscores Solana’s swift expansion as it welcomed 7,625 new developers to its network over the past year, marking a significant 83% rise compared to the same period last year.

Rise in Developer Activity

On December 12, a report was published that analyzed over 902 million coding changes (commits) in approximately 1.7 million projects related to various large blockchain networks. The findings revealed that Solana’s development community has experienced the swiftest growth among these prominent blockchain networks.

The boost was driven significantly by active involvement of builders primarily in the Asian region, where our network emerged as the leading choice for novice programmers in India and the second preferred option in key global markets such as the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and China.

Responding to the latest developments, Solana attributed its rapid growth to its community-oriented philosophy and emphasis on scalability. By 2024, it dominated over 81% of decentralized exchange (DEX) trades and handled 64% of NFT mint transactions across all platforms.

Furthermore, its user base through wallet activity expanded to approximately 1.7 million people, which is seven times greater than the second largest blockchain in terms of size.

Despite Solana recently gaining prominence, Ethereum continues to be the top blockchain when it comes to total developer activity. Although it had 1,169 fewer coders than its competitor, Ethereum maintains its lead in areas like monthly active developers and code commits on a global scale.

Furthermore, a substantial number of builders who have been contributing for over two years now dominate the blockchain led by Vitalik Buterin, as they account for approximately 70% of all commit contributions.

Solana Making Small Strides

Despite this, Solana’s growth is indicative of broader diversification tendencies within the cryptocurrency sector. As per Electric Capital’s research, one-third of developers now work on multiple chains, a significant increase from the less than 10% in 2015. Taking advantage of this shift, Solana has established itself as an option for low-cost transactions, decentralized finance (DeFi), and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

This year, Ethereum’s development was significantly advanced as evidenced by various milestones it achieved, even if temporarily. For instance, it surpassed its weekly transaction fees and Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) tips in July.

Additionally, in November, the daily trading figures on the platform’s Decentralized Exchanges surpassed $5 billion for three consecutive days for the first time ever in its history. The activity reached its peak a few days later, causing the network to set another record when its monthly volumes for decentralized exchange transactions hit an impressive $70 billion.

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2024-12-14 00:20