Santiment Analysis: Revealing the Most Actively Developed Cryptocurrencies

Crypto data analysts have released an updated list of the top ten cryptocurrencies with the most active development. Specifically, the data measures how many developers are currently creating applications and other platforms for a given DeFi blockchain.

Cardano Tops the List Once Again

A couple of months ago, a similar analysis was performed by Santiment which had Cardano leading the pack with 505 active developers.  

Cardano has retained that number-one position as of December 2023, with a slight increase in developer activity over the past little while. Polkadot is still second, while Kusama has shot up the rankings to third place after not even being in the top ten in October. 

This has correlated with a major price spike in Kusama’s native token, KSM. Around October 2023, KSM was trading at approximately USD $20 (AUD $29.31). As of today, KSM is worth around USD $56.19 (AUD $82.24), representing a whopping 180% increase in value.

Development Activity Doesn’t Necessarily Correlate to Price

The number of active developers on a blockchain can be a great indicator of ecosystem health. It suggests that some of the brightest minds in the cryptosphere believe in that particular network’s long-term future as a host for their hard work. 

However, that doesn’t mean that a price hike is always on the horizon. Sometimes, project numbers may be artificially boosted by incentives, or the applications themselves are rather small and will have little impact on the overall DeFi world of that particular blockchain.

For example, take note of Solana’s (SOL) stunning past month. The DeFi chain is up 93% over the past four weeks, and yet is nowhere to be seen in the top ten networks by active developers. This shows that while upcoming DeFi projects and applications are a good metric of developer interest, they are only one element of the hype that can build around a cryptocurrency and its ecosystem.