- SOL token has seen major price gains recently, with 500% growth Oct-Dec and reaching a 2022 high of $122 on Dec 26th; this aligns with increased network activity and developer growth
- Solana Foundation report shows 2,500-3,000 monthly active developers in 2022, but Electric Capital data indicates developer count dropped to 946 as of Oct 1
- Solana hit milestones of surpassing Ethereum in stablecoin volume, NFT volume, and Google searches in recent weeks
The Solana ecosystem continues to grow and achieve new heights. According to a recent report by the Solana Foundation, the network now boasts over 2,500 monthly active developers. This robust developer community demonstrates Solana’s ability to attract and retain top talent in the blockchain space.
The Solana Foundation’s Findings
The Solana Foundation’s comprehensive report, released on January 9th, revealed the ecosystem has maintained between 2,500-3,000 monthly active developers over the past year. This metric tracks developers who contribute to public repositories.
Contrasting Data from Electric Capital
However, data from Electric Capital‘s blockchain tracker shows a different picture. Their figures indicate Solana’s developer count stood at 946 as of October 1, 2023 – a significant drop from its peak of 2,634 on December 22, 2022. The Electric Capital report relies on GitHub data through October 1st. Their spokesperson assured the Q4 statistics would be updated soon.
Comparing Solana and Ethereum
For comparison, Ethereum, a top Solana competitor, had 5,769 monthly active developers on October 1, 2023. This reflects a 22% decrease from Ethereum’s peak of 7,433 on June 16, 2022, according to Electric Capital.
Recent SOL Price Gains
The growth in Solana’s developer ecosystem aligns with the ongoing surge in activity on Solana’s network and upward price movement of its SOL token. SOL gained around 500% from October to December, largely thanks to the popularity of SOL-based memecoins.
This rally briefly pushed Solana’s market cap above Binance Coin’s, making SOL the 4th largest cryptocurrency on December 22nd. Just days later, on December 26th, SOL reached its 2022 high of $122. The network also briefly surpassed Ethereum in 24-hour DEX volumes that month.
The Road Ahead
While the Solana Foundation report highlights the ecosystem’s developer base, the Electric Capital data provides a contrasting view. As Solana continues gaining attention and delivering impressive price gains, the coming weeks should provide more clarity on its developer activity and position among blockchain platforms.
Solana’s Ongoing Achievements
In addition to its developer growth, Solana has also recently notched several other milestones.
Surpassing Ethereum in Stablecoin Volume
Over the past week, Solana surpassed Ethereum in 7-day stablecoin trading volume for the first time. The value of Solana’s stablecoin transfers reached $103 billion last week, beating out all other networks.
Ethereum took second place with $909 billion, followed by Tron with $823 billion and BNB Chain with $146 billion.
Beating Ethereum in NFT Volume
Solana also surpassed Ethereum in monthly NFT trading volume for December. According to Degen News, Solana hosted $3.66 billion in NFT trades while Ethereum saw $3.53 billion. However, CryptoSlam data shows Solana’s 30-day NFT sales were around 5% lower than Ethereum’s.
Rising Popularity
Solana’s increasing popularity is also evident in search trends. In mid-December, worldwide Google searches for Solana surpassed searches for Ethereum.
These achievements cap off a strong 2023 for Solana, with more milestones likely on the horizon.
