Follow the Developers! Polkadot Maintains #2 Industry Ranking
Bits of Signum 1.27.23 | Join Us! Founder Spotlight Series - Marc Seal, Sortium
Last week, Electric Capital released their seminal report on developers in the crypto space. We find it to be the most valuable data-centric report, as we subscribe to a follow the developers mantra. There is a lot of marketing hype in crypto, as evidenced by the long list of entities who had marketing and sponsorship deals with FTX. We are now seeing a deluge of severed media deals, especially in sports, based on the high likelihood that sports media will reach mainstream Americans and the average person globally. According to Sports Business Journal, "Sports in 2021 dominated the most-watched telecasts in the U.S. like never before, accounting for 95 of the top 100 programs.” This rush to cut ties is reminiscent of the brand safety wars of 2017, when mainstream brand JP Morgan pulled ads from 395,000 of 400,000 sites, realizing they were situated in bad online neighborhoods, alongside terrorist groups.
It might sound strange to hear this, but we are proud that, for the third year in a row, the aim of marketing Polkadot to software developers, and not to the average retail investor, appears to be working. (FD: Signum Growth Capital acts as Lead Advisor to the Web3 Foundation.)
For the third year in a row, there has been almost no coverage of Polkadot’s number two position on developer count, behind Ethereum. Indeed, the numbers are even more pronounced when combining Polkadot with Kusama, the former’s canary network where developers crash test the technology to create a smooth glide path to Polkadot (see KILT, who was the first to announce this move.)
Additionally, the report noted that it took just 2.2 years for Polkadot to grow to more than 200 full-time developers while it typically takes 4+ years for an ecosystem to reach that number.
The numbers tell more than a Polkadot story - they paint a positive picture for developer growth overall. The total Ethereum developer community has grown 5x since the last crypto winter in 2018 to 5,819; Bitcoin is up 3x to 946. The others in the top five have grown many multiples, from a lower base, all despite the clearly negative 2022 impact to developer counts due to Terra Luna and FTX.
Overall Industry Indication is Positive
Despite the crypto winter dampening effect, developer activity has powered through the dour crypto winter and the negative news cycle of frauds and scams. Total monthly active developers in December 2022 were 23,343, or up 5% YoY. And since 2018, monthly active developers have increased +297%.
Comparing 2022 Overall to 2021 Overall, by full time developers -
For the full year 2021, Ethereum was the #1 developer ecosystem, followed by Polkadot #2, Cosmos #3, Solana #4 and Bitcoin #5.
For the full year 2022, the same five continued in the top five, and all five communities have seen tremendous growth in developers since 2018.
We, at Signum Growth Capital, would like to thank Electric Capital for their ability to act as truth seekers for the industry, cutting through the noise and reporting the truth.
Separately, Please Join Us on Monday, January 30th at 1pm EST for our first Signum - FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT on Twitter Spaces, with founder of gaming studio Sortium, Marc Seal! We’ll be discussing the use of AI in gaming, Digital Collectibles, and NFTs. Sortium is an entertainment tech company combining AI and Web3 to build groundbreaking games and digital experiences. Prior to Sortium, Marc innovated in Web3 with some of the world's biggest brands such as Disney, Topps, Godzilla, and the MLB.