In the new year, MetaEra will continue its interview series. We will keep having conversations with industry elites and leaders regarding hot topics and events in the industry, and jointly explore the development and future of Web3. The interviewee on this issue is Maria, the lead author of "The Developer Report" and a partner at Electric Capital. 

Author: Echo, MetaEra

Introduction to "The Developer Report"

In late 2024, Electric Capital released its annual "The Developer Report". By analyzing over 900 million code submissions and 1.7 million code repositories, the report provided a comprehensive insight into the development activities within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Once released, the report sparked intense discussions within the industry and became the focus of industry attention.

Full text of the report: "Electric Capital Developer Report: The Rise of Asia, Comprehending the New Pattern of the 2024 Blockchain Developer Ecosystem in One Article"

Essential Views

• Developers are the leading indicator of value creation.

• Three data collection methods, namely automated search tools, the community-open-source classification system, and cooperation with teams within the ecosystem, ensure the comprehensiveness and real-time update of the data in "The Developer Report".

• Layer 2 solutions are on the rise. For example, Base attracts developers with its low fee advantage, bringing new vitality to the Ethereum ecosystem, indicating that Ethereum's scaling solutions are effectively working.

• The core competitiveness of Solana in attracting developers lies in the active role of its developer relations team, a large number of users, and community resilience. The key to its sustainable development in the future lies in developer retention.

• Developers are concentrating on high-quality projects, partly due to natural market dynamics. For instance, Eigenlayer pioneered the restaking field, attracting a large number of developers and funds, thus forming a virtuous cycle.

Interview Content

MetaEra：The Developer Report recently released by Electric Capital has attracted wide attention in the industry. The development of the industry ecosystem cannot be separated from the group of value creators, that is, developers. I believe you have also spent a lot of effort on this report. What considerations led Electric Capital to release this report, and what investment philosophies does it reflect?

Maria：Developers are a leading indicator of value creation. They build apps that deliver value to users. These "killer apps" attract customers, who, in turn, draw more developers. In the open-source nature of crypto, we have an unprecedented ability to measure this developer-value creation flywheel in a rapidly evolving industry.

At Electric Capital, we adopt a research-driven and data-oriented approach to investments. Developer data is one factor we consider, though it is not the sole determinant in our investment decisions.

MetaEra：Could you briefly introduce Electric Capital to us and some of its considerations when choosing investment projects? Besides focusing on technological innovation, what non-technical factors will be mainly considered when evaluating whether a blockchain project is worthy of investment, such as team collaboration ability, marketing strategy, etc.?

Maria：Electric Capital is an engineering-led global venture capital firm investing in early-stage crypto and frontier technology. Founded in 2018, Electric invests in companies and protocols across infrastructure, developer tooling, crypto-enabled fintech, decentralized finance, marketplaces, applications, and the intersection of crypto and AI.

MetaEra：Regarding this "Developer Report", when collecting the data for the 2024 report on the new pattern of the blockchain developer ecosystem, what specific research methods and tools were adopted? How was the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the data ensured?

Maria：We analyzed 902 million code commits across 1.7 million repositories to produce the 2024 Developer Report. All the data comes from open-source repositories, and we use proprietary infrastructure to process and analyze it.

Our taxonomy is open-sourced, allowing the community to contribute and address any gaps. Over 1,000 contributors have helped refine our understanding of open-source crypto repositories.

You can explore our taxonomy at GitHub - Crypto Ecosystems. More on our methodology is available at: Developer Report Methodology.

MetaEra：What is the data collection cycle of the report? Have the impacts of special events or trends in the industry during different time periods on the data been considered? How are these impacts dealt with to ensure the objectivity of the data?

Maria：

We employ three methods for data collection:

1. Automated search tools that identify new open-source crypto repositories.

2. An open-source taxonomy allowing community contributions: GitHub - Crypto Ecosystems.

3. Direct engagement with foundations and teams in major ecosystems to ensure inclusion of critical repositories.

This continuous approach ensures comprehensive and up-to-date data collection.

MetaEra：Based on the research results of this report, what are your predictions for the overall development of the blockchain developer ecosystem in the next 1 - 3 years? Which regions, ecosystems or use cases are likely to become new hotspots?

Maria：The report shows that North America has steadily lost developer share over the past decade, a trend we expect to continue as crypto diversifies globally. Emerging markets in Africa and Latin America are likely to grow as developers there focus on financial inclusion. Asia will likely remain dominant, driven by strong interest in crypto across the region.

MetaEra：From the perspective of the geographical distribution of developer activities, there are differences in blockchain development preferences in different countries and regions. What do you think are the factors that lead to these differences?

Maria：Ethereum is the top ecosystem globally, followed by Solana in most regions. However, preferences diverge for the #3 spot. For instance, Polkadot’s strong Chinese developer community secures its position in China, while Base’s active engagement in India has made it the third most popular ecosystem there. These variations often reflect the strength of local communities and Developer Relations efforts.

MetaEra：The report mentioned that 80% of the loss of Ethereum developers comes from part-time and one-time developers. What problems do you think this reflects in the Ethereum development environment? Or is this a common phenomenon in the industry?

Maria：Part-time developers contribute fewer than 10 days in a rolling 28-day period, while one-time contributors often make minor updates, like documentation edits. Ethereum’s loss of part-time developers primarily reflects the departure of hobbyists and hackathon participants.

When we analyze the tenure of developers, we see that all losses are among those who have been active for less than two years. This suggests that many hobbyist developers who entered during the 2022 bull market have since left space.

MetaEra: With the development of more Layer 2 solutions in the Ethereum ecosystem, such as Base becoming the largest Ethereum L2, what kind of reshaping do you think this is for the overall developer ecosystem of Ethereum? What new opportunities and challenges do developers face in this process?

Maria：The rise of scaling solutions and Layer 2s is extremely exciting to see reflected in data because scaling has been discussed for a long time in the Ethereum ecosystem. The fact that we’re seeing developer adoption on L2s and outside of Mainnet means these scaling solutions are working and attracting developers. L2s like Base are capturing attention to low-fee use cases, which is crucial as the world, especially emerging economies, comes on chain. This growth indicates that the Ethereum ecosystem is expanding, with high-value use cases on Mainnet and more experimentation on L2s.

MetaEra: What do you think is the reason behind the stable number of Bitcoin developers?

Maria：Generally speaking, Bitcoin developers do tend to have less volatility compared to the rest of crypto. First of all, Bitcoin is the most mature ecosystem, with developers who have been involved for a long time. Because it’s more mature, it’s also harder to introduce updates and changes, which generally means there’s less exploration of new use cases. However, this is changing with Bitcoin’s scaling solutions, smart contracts, NFTs, and DeFi on Bitcoin. I would actually expect that going forward, Bitcoin developer numbers may experience more volatility as the ecosystem starts expanding into these new use cases.

MetaEra: The number of developers in emerging ecosystems such as Solana has increased significantly. What do you think is their core competitiveness in attracting developers? In the future ecological competition, what aspects should they focus on to achieve sustainable development?

Maria：Solana has done a great job attracting new developers. First of all, their DevRel team is extremely hands-on with the ecosystem. Secondly, developers tend to flock to chains with a lot of usage, and Solana, especially with its meme coins and social experiments, has seen significant user growth. Thirdly, Solana has proven resilient through challenges, showing there is a core community committed to building on it, which gives new developers confidence. For sustainable development, one key aspect will be retention—seeing how well Solana can keep high-quality, full-time developers engaged in the long run.

MetaEra: The report pointed out that the number of developers in some ecosystems has increased, while that in some has decreased. Do you think this is a natural market elimination mechanism or is it more affected by specific external factors?

Maria: We definitely tend to see consolidation of developers into high-quality projects or projects with a lot of traction over time. Part of that is certainly natural market dynamics as developers vote with their time and effort.

Each ecosystem also have different reasons for expansion. For example, Eigenlayer was the fastest growing crypto ecosystem in 2024. EigenLayer is a great example of how a dedicated small group of developers unlocked a valuable use case, attracting more developers and reinforcing ecosystem growth. EigenLayer created the restaking sector, which brought in close to $30 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL) over the course of 2024, and attracted more developers building AVSes. This example shows how developers building something useful can start a flywheel effect of adoption and further development.

MetaEra: During the research process, have you found any emerging blockchain development trends or highlights of niche ecosystems that are not reflected in the report but you think are very worthy of attention?

Maria: This is a great question, and there are actually so many verticals here. I would do social, gaming, and creator experiments as interesting verticals not covered in the report.

MetaEra: For new developers who want to enter the blockchain development field, what suggestions do you have? What skills, ecosystems or industry trends should they focus on?

Maria: I think right now, the thing that’s missing in crypto is more diversity in the kinds of developers entering the space. I would urge people from all backgrounds to explore blockchain because there’s a lot of room for experimentation. There are many usage patterns and use cases, especially in the social and consumer spaces, that haven’t been unlocked yet. With advancements like UX improvements and reduced transaction fees, I see a lot of potential for new consumer use cases. This sector will benefit greatly from experimentation, so I’d encourage people with big imaginations to come in, experiment, and do weird stuff—that’s how we’ll discover new patterns and use cases for crypto.