.png){kind=logo}
Chainlink leads Ethereum-based projects in GitHub activity, signaling strong development and innovation.
Starknet, Ethereum, and EigenLayer show rising engagement, suggesting evolving use cases and upcoming upgrades.
Developer activity is a crucial signal for long-term viability in the competitive Ethereum ecosystem.
In the fast‑evolving world of Ethereum’s ecosystem, developer activity has become a leading indicator of long‑term project vitality. Blockchain analytics firm Santiment recently ranked the top ten Ethereum-based protocols by the number of significant developer events on GitHub over the past 30 days. These data pointsranging from code commits and pull requests to impactful issue resolutions, shine a light on where innovation is happening.
Here’s an in‑depth look at the findings, along with key context around each project:
Dev events: 493
Market cap: $9.4 billion
Chainlink maintains its leadership, reflecting a strong focus on oracle infrastructure, VRF updates, and integrations with Web3 applications. Reports show its developer activity surpasses Ethereum’s by around 50% this month.
Dev events: 282
Market cap: $460.3 million
The ZK-rollup layer-2 is seeing robust development. Starknet continues its scaling efforts for Ethereum, with developer activity trending upward, according to Santiment.
Dev events: 237
Market cap: $466.3 million
This innovative restaking protocol is gaining traction by enabling the reuse of staked ETH across multiple networks, hinting at the emerging convergence of DeFi staking.
Dev events: 161
Market cap: $121.8 million
A mobile wallet and messaging dApp, Status is undergoing significant tech refreshes even as price remains modest.
Dev events: 156
Market cap: $36.2 million
This asset-pegged stablecoin is undergoing engineering pushes, likely tied to risk adjustments, collateral integration, and cross-chain stability efforts.
Dev events: 156
Market cap: $232.8 million
A key DeFi primitive for synthetic assets, Synthetix remains under active development, including updates to staking, oracle logic, and fee infrastructure.
Dev events: 132
Market cap: $567.6 million
This virtual-world protocol is seeing new content tools, infrastructure tweaks, and marketplace enhancements as Web3 gaming continues to expand.
Dev events: 117
Market cap: $773.85 million
Liquid staking remains a hot theme. Lido’s activity includes smart contract upgrades, new stake distributions, and protocol governance tweaks.
Dev events: 117
Market cap: $23.96 billion
As the staked ETH version of Lido, stETH directly benefits from the above activity, giving it a strong development momentum.
Also Read: Ethereum Price Holds Above Key Support as Bulls Eye Breakout
Long‑term resilience over short-term hype: While price spikes can be driven by speculation, consistent coding activity usually presages protocol upgrades, partnerships, and ecosystem growth.
Ecosystem health barometer: Protocols that are seeing sustained developer engagement, such as Chainlink, Starknet, and EigenLayer, are signaling their capability to adapt, patch, and scale.
Pre‑launch & upgrade clues: A surge in activity often precedes major events, such as protocol forks, new token listings, or enhanced integrations.
Chainlink and Starknet have shown price and volume upticks alongside their dev momentum. Meanwhile, Ethereum continues attracting institutional participation as it solidifies its dominant network status.
Chainlink is likely gearing up for oracle 2.0 deployments, high‑throughput VRF tools, and expanded chain integrations.
Starknet could be finalizing major usability and gas optimizations ahead of enterprise deployments.
EigenLayer is expanding restaking use-cases, potentially unlocking trustless security services across DeFi.
Lido & stETH are evolving in response to rising liquid staking demand, decentralized governance pressure, and regulatory developments.
As Ethereum’s landscape becomes more competitive, measuring developer activity offers a reliable lens into which protocols are making significant progress under the surface. Chainlink’s consistent dominance underscores its role as the universal oracle backbone. Starknet’s Layer‑2 opens the door to scalable dApps. And EigenLayer’s restaking innovation hints at a new frontier in blockchain security.
For investors, developers, and ecosystem participants, tracking these metrics, alongside on-chain data and trading volume, can reveal signals of high-potential projects before they gain mainstream attention.
Also Read: Top Altcoins to Grab Before Ethereum Shoots to $10K in 2025
