By George Ward
An Influx Of Developers Into Solana
According to the latest data released by the Solana Foundation, the Solana network has attained unprecedented activity over the past ninety days. The report noted that the Solana ecosystem now supports an expanding community of over 2,500 developers who are active monthly.
Based on significant network parameters, the comprehensive study highlights the ecosystem’s vitality. This milestone holds considerable importance for more than the numerical value. It showcases the ecosystem’s capacity to attract and retain high-caliber personnel.
The steady influx of developers suggests a dynamic ecosystem mirroring an ongoing appeal inherent in the Solana network. It is noteworthy that the dataset exclusively comprises developers who are actively engaged in work within public repositories. This emphasis on public contributions highlights the ecosystem’s transparency and openness, showcasing its commitment to enabling accessible and collaborative projects.
A Contrasting Perspective
Meanwhile, the Developer Report, a blockchain development tracker by Electric Capital, offers an alternative perspective to the figures disclosed by the Solana Foundation.
The data indicates that the number of developers actively participating in Solana declined to 946 as of October 1, 2023. This substantial decline contrasts the peak of 2,634, documented on December 22, 2022.
The report, which offers insights into the activities of blockchain developers, obtains its information from GitHub. However, as of the time of writing, this data hasn’t been updated since October 2023.
Conversely, the overall number of developers actively engaged on the Ethereum network is 5,769 as of October 1, 2023. Per the Electric Capital report, this number represents a 22% decline from an all-time high of 7,433 recorded on June 16, 2022.
Developer Retention Metric And SOL’s Price Action
Meanwhile, the 50% rise in developer retention rate on the Solana network in the past ninety days coincides with a significant uptrend in the price of Solana’s native token (SOL). One of the reasons behind the considerable spike in SOL’s price is the excitement around SOL-based memecoins.
Hence, it’s no wonder that SOL gained 500% between October and December 2023. This huge spike even caused SOL to temporarily surpass Binance’s BNB token in market capitalization and occupy the fourth-largest cryptocurrency position.
Furthermore, SOL traded at a 2-year high of $122 on December 26, signifying an extraordinary achievement. Concurrently, there was an unparalleled upswing in activities on the network.
This activity surge manifested in SOL’s 24-hour trading volume exceeding ETH’s momentarily. Consequently, this achievement (despite its briefness) indicates Solana’s increasing prominence as a viable alternative to well-established platforms such as Ethereum. SOL trades at $100.04 at the time of writing, up by 38.5% in the last 30 days per Coingecko data.