The Solana ecosystem has emerged as the premier destination for new developers in 2024, effectively dethroning Ethereum after an eight-year dominance. Despite Ethereum maintaining its position as the leader in total developer activity globally, the influx of talent into Solana has been significant.
A December 12 report by Electric Capital highlighted Solana's pivotal moment in July. For the first time since 2016, it welcomed more new developers than Ethereum.
This trend carried on throughout the year, with numbers indicating that 7,625 developers joined Solana, spurred notably by growth in Asia, compared to Ethereum's 6,456. Solana's rise to the top was marked by an 83% increase in ecosystem activity since the previous year.
Throughout the year, Solana managed to briefly outpace Ethereum in various key metrics. March 18 saw Solana surpass Ethereum in network activity amidst a rush for Solana-based memecoins. Further, on October 28, Solana exceeded Ethereum in daily network fee generation over a 24-hour period. Despite a 7% dip from last year, a total of 39,148 new developers entered the crypto space this year, marking a substantial drop from the peak of over 77,000 in 2022.
Despite a 17% decrease over the past year to 6,244 monthly Ethereum developers, Ethereum remains the most substantial ecosystem globally for total developer engagement. Electric Capital's data illustrates Ethereum's active developer presence spanning Asia, Europe, North America, Africa, and South America.
Ethereum continues to lead in total developer activity worldwide. Its layer-2 networks have shown 64% growth since 2021. Remarkably, 26% of monthly crypto developers target these L2s and the mainnet. Within Ethereum's ecosystem, Eigenlayer emerged as the fastest-growing in 2024, boasting a 167% rise in monthly overall developers.
Electric Capital's analysis underscores crypto's global uptake, notably in Africa, South America, and Asia. Asia, Europe, and North America emerge as leading crypto hubs in 2024. Asia is forefront, with one in three developers globally residing on the continent, partly attributed to India leading in onboarding new crypto developers this year.
Around the globe, crypto activities occupy every time zone, with distinct regional preferences. Stablecoin transactions registered a 3% increase during Asian, European, and African daylight, while NFT trading peaks occur during America's work hours, with minting most active during Asia's work times.