Despite the crosswinds in a stormy and raging cryptographic ocean, many blockchain developers have decided to keep their boats afloat, making their way in the face of the inclement weather that has prevailed in the crypto market.
Según un report published by Alchemy, a development platform focused on the Web3, it can be concluded that despite the slowdown registered in the cryptocurrency market last year, there is evidence of a increase in the implementation of smart contracts in the blockchain ecosystem.
The Alchemy report suggests that, despite the ravages and collapse of some major cryptocurrency platforms, such as the FTX exchange, which collapsed last November, developers are still moving forward and continuing to implement on the blockchain, taking advantage of the benefits of this technology.
Platform analysts reported that development activity in the blockchain ecosystem increased by 453% in the fourth quarter of 2022, with Ethereum being the blockchain with the highest number of active developers.
Application development on the Ethereum blockchain grows
In Alchemy's analysis of the last quarter of 2022, reference is made to the fall suffered by the cryptocurrency market, to the loss of confidence that the collapse of companies and projects such as FTX caused among investors, but also , to the increase registered in the development of applications and smart contracts.
Source: Alchemy
According to Alchemy, currently there are about 4,6 million smart contracts deployed in the blockchain ecosystem. Likewise, the platform highlighted that the number of active developers increased by 8% in 2022, reaching 61.000 developers and collaborators in chains such as Ethereum, Bitcoin, among others.
On the other hand, in its report, Alchemy also refers to the contraction suffered by the non-fungible token (NFT) market, whose sales and transaction volume year after year has accumulated a reduction of up to 90%.
The platform's analysts also mentioned the impact on decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. In the last year, the total value deposited (TVL) in the DeFi ecosystem has been reduced by up to 77%, while the main cryptocurrencies in the market, including BTC, ETH and SOL have reduced their values from their all-time highs to levels that are around 65%, 68% and 94%, respectively.
Developers are optimistic about Web3
In statements given to the media, Alchemy's head of growth, Jason Shah, points out that despite the decline in the cryptocurrency market, developers continue to remain positive and by the last quarter of last year there had been a notable increase in the development and implementation of applications on the Ethereum network.
The latter highlights the optimism of Web3 application developers, despite the bear market that cryptocurrencies still face.
Alchemy also indicated that more than 94% of the 985 developers who were surveyed by the platform feel positive and are enthusiastic about the future of Web3. The platform commented that this optimism explains the 58% increase in the number of decentralized social applications (DApps) created by the end of 2022.
Finally, as Shah told CoinDesk, it appears “there is probably a more sustainable and natural set of Internet products being built around that sector.”
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