By George Ward
The mid-year crypto industry report released by Electric Capitals indicates that the digital asset ecosystem has recorded a decline in active open-source developers. According to the platform, 21,300 monthly active developers were in the industry as of June 1, 2023, with the numbers significantly down compared to the start of the year.
Worrying Signs
Data from Electric Capitals revealed that there had been a 22% drop in the number of active developers in the crypto space since June 2022. It added that newcomers who recently left have spent less than a year in the industry.
According to Electric Capitals, those who left contributed less than 20% of all codes developed in the sector. Hence, the report concluded that their exits were insignificant to the industry.
Meanwhile, the research claimed that it derived data about the activities of crypto developers from the GitHub platform to compile the study. Interestingly, the statistics indicate fewer developers in the crypto space than during the 2021 bull market season.
Moreover, the decline followed the high-profile crashes of several crypto firms in 2022, notably Terra and FTX. Following the exits of the new developers, the experienced developers have taken up the responsibility of building new crypto projects for the crypto industry amid the recent bearishness in the market.
Interestingly, the report further revealed that it is typical to have a lower number of new developers during the bear seasons. Consequently, last year’s decline is not a unique event in the industry as it mirrored the trends during previous bear market seasons.
According to a developer activity report released by the blockchain analytic firm Santiment, Polkadot has the lowest number of developers in the industry.
The 30-day developer activities revealed by Santiment show that Polkadot and Kusama have a combined 546 code commits, with Cardano behind them, occupying the third spot.
Crypto Market Remains On The Downtrend
At the time of writing, the crypto market remains on the downtrend, having failed to break the market resistance for the second consecutive time in a week. This has resulted in another price reversal, with the market’s total capitalization marginally down to $1.21 trillion.
As proof, there were no significant changes to the prices of BTC and ETH over the weekend. Furthermore, the prices of the top 20 altcoins were also in the red during Monday morning’s Asian trading hours as the overall market sentiment remains bearish.
In a related development, reports show a 10% drop in crypto-related jobs in the last 12 months. Many crypto firms are struggling and are still in business because they secured fresh funds from VCs.