New crypto developers are leaving too soon: Electric Capital

Crypto developer numbers have risen 66% since the last bear market, but dipped over the past year, Electric Capital found

by Shalini Nagarajan /

October 19, 2023 12:56 pm

Jomic/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

The crypto industry is struggling to keep new developer talent engaged, according to data from early-stage venture capital firm Electric Capital.

At the same time, the firm found that today’s developer pool is 66% larger than it was during the bear market three years ago — despite experiencing a 27% decline over the past year.

Fewer new developers are entering the space because not as many people are giving crypto a try, the VC firm said in a blog published Wednesday.

This suggests a complex landscape, where growth and interest in development are present but some face waning enthusiasm.

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“Developers who left crypto recently were newcomers who worked in crypto fewer than 12 months and were only responsible for around 25% of all code commits,” the firm said in an October update.

The report, which defined developers as having left the field if they hadn’t contributed any code for two months, shed light on a downward trend.

Image Source: Electric Capital

The firm’s post contended that monthly new developer numbers fell sharply from about 5,200 in November 2021 to just 1,700 in September 2023.

Adding to this, the findings highlighted a division in contribution history.

Those developers who bowed out after July 2023 were responsible for about 25% of historical code commits, or additions a developer makes to the source code of a software project.

In contrast, the ones who stayed active past that point have been significantly busier, making up 75% of the code contributions.

Additionally, developers active after July 2023 were found to code on more days.

The report separately identified Ethereum layer-2 developer Starknet as leading in terms of monthly active developers, hosting 517 contributors and experiencing 4% growth annually.

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