Importance of Gauging Developer Activity

As the crypto community continues to grow, doing your own research (DYOR) is becoming increasingly important due to the ongoing volatility of the market and to make better-informed decisions on long-term investment prospects. On-chain metrics such as Total Value Locked, token price action, trading volume, etc., feature in most analyses. 

However, one important metric that is difficult to track precisely is the blockchain development activity, such as the number of active developers on each blockchain. This was brought to light by the Electric Capital Developer Report, which was released earlier this year. 

The developer count is important, especially for determining the priorities of the blockchain. It can be said that sustained development fosters the creation of widely-used applications, and wide usage of these applications incentivizes the further development of new functionalities. 

Blockchain developers are responsible for designing and maintaining the architecture, building smart contracts, beta testing new features on the test net before introducing them onto the mainnet, etc. This sustained development is critical to creating long-term value propositions.

Development Activity on Major Chains

According to the report, Ethereum has managed to maintain its first-mover advantage with ~4,000 Monthly Active Developers (MADs), and it absorbs around 30% of new developers coming into the web3 ecosystem, followed by Solana with almost 1,000 monthly active developers. 

BNB Chain has around 500 MADs. Although the data for Cronos was not available in the report, we can get a sense of the development activity on its GitHub (which was also probably used to ascertain the developer count in the Electric Capital report). The Cronos chain has around 19 core contributors. 

Despite Ethereum having the highest gas fees, users are willing to pay more than $15 Million a day as gas fees and attract the most number of developers. At the same time, Solana and BNB Chain are attracting most new users with the proposition of fast transactions and low fees. 

Cronos, on the other hand, is still at a very nascent stage, and once it begins to scale up massively (and it very well can because the parent company has access to 50 Million users in the retail market), it could be the mecca of innovation and development rivaling the likes of Ethereum. 

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What is Ethereum:

Ethereum is a decentralised, open-source blockchain that supports smart contracts. Ether is the platform's native cryptocurrency. In terms of market capitalization, Ether is second only to Bitcoin. Vitalik Buterin, a programmer, created Ethereum in 2013.

Find more about Ethereum here:

Website | Twitter | Documentation | Whitepaper | Reddit | Discord | Youtube | GitHub | Ethereum Foundation Blog | 

What is BNB Chain:

BNB Chain is a community-driven, decentralized, and censorship-resistant blockchain-powered by BNB. It consists of BNB Beacon Chain and BNB Smart Chain, EVM compatible and facilitating a multi-chain ecosystem. Through the concept of MetaFI, BNB Chain aims to build the infrastructure to power the world’s parallel virtual ecosystem.  

For more information on BNB Chain, these links:

Website | Twitter | Discord | Telegram | GitHub |

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What is Solana:

Solana is a public, open-source blockchain that allows for smart contracts, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and various decentralised applications (dApps). The SOL token, which is native to Solana's blockchain, provides network security through staking as well as a means of transferring value.

Learn more about Solana:

Website | Twitter | Docs | Github | Discord |

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What is Cronos: 

Live since November 2021, Cronos positions itself as an EVM-compatible chain designed to support the Creator Economy with applications such as DeFi and GameFi, ultimately serving as a foundational infrastructure for the Metaverse. In addition, Cronos claims they offer faster and cheaper transactions than Ethereum mainnet, making decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts greener and more user-friendly. Since its launch in November 2021, Cronos has been pegged within the top 10 blockchains by total value locked (More than $US 4billion), with 25% month-on-month user growth and more than 200 dApps. 

Where to find Cronos:

Website | Twitter | Discord | Telegram | Medium |

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