The Solana Foundation’s recent data highlights that the Solana (SOL) ecosystem now boasts over 2,500 active developers monthly. A January 9 report assessing core network metrics for 2023 claimed that throughout the past year, the network maintained between 2,500 to 3,000 active developers each month.
However, Electric Capital’s blockchain development tracker, the Developer Report, shows a decline in Solana’s developer count from an all-time high of 2,634 in December 2022 to just 946 by October 2023. The Developer Report references data from GitHub to track blockchain developer activities.
While these statistics are only up to October 1, an Electric Capital spokesperson indicated that data for the fourth quarter would be updated in the following week. The Solana Foundation clarified that their measurement only accounted for developers contributing to public sources, emphasizing the importance of consistently maintaining developer numbers as an indicator of a healthy ecosystem.
In contrast, Ethereum’s total monthly active developer count decreased by 22% from its peak of 7,433 in June 2022 to 5,769 by October 2023, according to Electric Capital data. Additionally, developer retention on Solana increased by 50% in the last three months, coinciding with an ongoing surge in network activity and an upward price movement of the native Solana token.
Solana experienced a significant price increase of 500% between October and December, briefly surpassing Binance Coin (BNB) in market value to become the fourth-largest cryptocurrency. This surge was influenced by a meme token frenzy on the SOL platform and was followed by a peak price of $122 on December 26. The network also saw a substantial increase in activity, momentarily reversing Ethereum’s 24-hour DEX volumes within the same month.