Crypto’s best minds are flocking to the East, and at a pace that other regions are struggling to keep up with.
According to a report from venture firm Electric Capital, Asia accounted for 32% of global crypto developer activity in 2024. The firm recently released its comprehensive annual report, which analyzed over 900 million code commits across the crypto industry.
This transformation represents a nearly threefold increase from Asia’s 12% share in 2015, while North America’s share decreased from 43% to 24% during the same period.
It’s worth noting that the report only tracks the geographic location of the code commits and repository data. Information about the developers’ nationalities, citizenship, or other demographic indicators does not appear to be included in the study.
The methodology of the study specifies that certain types of code, such as data lists and asset repositories, were excluded in order to focus the study on code created by “active” developers.
Maria Shen, a General Partner at Electric Capital, stated on X (formerly known as Twitter) that the study had to “undercount” because “we look at open-source dev activity only.”
The report highlights India as a major driver of this shift, claiming 11.7% of the global crypto developer share. This puts the country in second place, only behind the United States, which has an 18.7% share.
The surge in Asian development talent has also reshaped the dynamics of the traditional industry, with India leading in new developer recruitment since 2023, surpassing all other regions globally.
More “established” developers than ever
On a global scale, there has been a 7% decline in active development this year, meaning that the crypto industry lost more developers than it gained, according to Electric Capital. However, the study notes that this figure is still within a safe margin based on annual trends.
Developers with more than two years of experience in crypto have increased by 27% year-over-year. These veteran developers now account for over 70% of code commits across major blockchain ecosystems.
The report analyzed 902 million code commits across 1.7 million repositories, revealing significant changes in development patterns and platform preferences.
Ethereum remains the dominant development platform in most regions. However, Solana has emerged as the preferred choice for new developers. Solana also secured strong second-place positions in major markets such as the United States, United Kingdom, China, and Canada.
New developers are emerging
Despite a highly volatile year, crypto is steadily attracting software talent, bringing in over 39,000 new developers in 2024. For these new developers, Solana has become the top choice as of July this year. Even ecosystems outside of Ethereum and Solana are seeing an influx of developers.
Internet Computer, Aptos, Base, Bitcoin, Sui, NEAR, Polkadot, and Polygon rank as the chains with the highest number of new developers after the top two. Each of these chains has brought in at least 1,000 new developers over the past year.
This influx of new talent is particularly strong in emerging markets, especially in Asia, which accounts for 41% of new developers. This suggests a growing technical sophistication in regions that were previously underrepresented in the space.
This shift in geographic distribution also indicates the maturation of the crypto industry as a whole, as it branches out and outgrows the dominance of the Western hemisphere. This means that, at least in terms of developer activity, emerging markets are driving much of the new growth.
Edited by Andrew Hayward