Competition is fierce in the cryptocurrency sector, particularly among the most popular blockchains vying for market share. This situation seems to be benefiting Ethereum this year in terms of new active developers.
Ethereum: the preferred blockchain for new developers?
The blockchain sector mirrors that of cryptocurrencies, with established projects facing a multitude of new entrants. This reality implies fierce competition to capture market share in sectors such as decentralized finance (DeFi) and the associated volumes.
In this field, Ethereum remains the undisputed leader with a total value locked (TVL) of $86.7 billion, representing 56% of the total locked in DeFi, estimated at $154.6 billion. By comparison, the number two player in the sector, Solana, has a total of $11.3 billion (approximately 7%).
Nevertheless, the Solana blockchain has had some isolated successes in recent years, such as the trading volume of its decentralized exchanges (DEXs) — boosted by memecoins — and the amount of SOL tokens held in staking. But 2025 will not be the year of its new developers.
The Ethereum Foundation has just published an overview of the situation on the X network. According to the new data collected, Ethereum “is the number one ecosystem for new developers in 2025.” And by “ecosystem,” we mean “the Ethereum layer 1 and all Rollups referenced by L2Beat.”
A trend set to last
This observation is reminiscent of Bhutan’s recent decision to implement its digital identity system on the Ethereum blockchain. This decision was motivated by the associated prospect of promoting the establishment of a national developer hub.
Furthermore, Ethereum’s position as the main driver of the current momentum in the stablecoin sector also appears to be an essential factor to take into account, as this prospect opens up numerous development opportunities associated with its ecosystem.
All of these reasons have contributed to the Ethereum ecosystem’s upward momentum since the beginning of the year, as shown in the chart below, shared by the Ethereum Foundation. Unsurprisingly, Solana appears in second place, followed by the iconic Bitcoin.
This assertion of dominance by the Ethereum ecosystem nevertheless clashes with the reality of the figures. Because even though it leads the way in terms of the number of new developers for 2025, Solana still manages to achieve 70% of this result without benefiting from the support of the same layer 2 nebula.
