Ethereum adoption rises as other chains begin to unwind
The number of developers working for Ethereum currently stands four times its closest rival Solana.
- Developers continue to flock to Ethereum despite high gas fees, new study suggests.
- Ethereum’s monthly losses have risen to 32% while its total crypto market share has declined to 18.3%.
- Blockchain data firm Nansen has acquired popular decentralized finance (DeFi) tracker Ape Board.
In the last 48 hours or so, Ethereum (ETH) rose to $2,100 before sliding once again to $1,900. The altcoin is now showcasing weekly losses in excess of 13% while trading for $1,975.
Despite the volatility and high transaction fees, a report from crypto venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) notes that development activity on Ethereum continues to remain “unmatched.” Researchers for the firm believe that the altcoin’s popularity is a “double-edged sword” since Ethereum gives priority to decentralization over scaling. This could result in Ethereum losing out to competing blockchains offering high transaction throughput and low gas fees.
Ethereum currently boasts of over 4,000 active monthly developers, much higher than that of its closest rivals Solana, Bitcoin and Cardano, who have 1,000, 500 and 400 developers apiece. The report reads: “Ethereum’s overwhelming mindshare helps explain why its users have been willing to pay more than $15 million in fees per day on average just to use the blockchain — remarkable for such a young project.”
Compared with Ethereum, the cumulative network fee associated with BNB Chain, Avalanche, Fantom, Polygon and Solana stands at just $2.5 million. While layer-2 solutions are being used to contain these prices, ETH’s delayed transition to ETH2.0 could continue to sway customers to rival networks, experts believe.
Blockchain analytics provider Nansen buys out DeFi tracker Ape Board
Popular Ethereum blockchain analytics provider Nansen has acquired cross-chain DeFi tracker Ape Board in its bid to continue scaling its operations. The eight-figure deal, specifics of which remain unknown, was completed earlier this week. The acquisition will see Ape Board’s entire staff joining Nansen’s team of over 120 analysts, product managers and engineers.
Ape Board currently supports a total of 36 crypto networks such as Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Solana, and Polygon, alongside 390 other protocols. Nansen is looking to become the go-to information super app for the Web3 ecosystem.
Interested in cryptocurrency? Learn more about the basics with our beginner’s guide to Bitcoin, dive deeper by learning about Ethereum and see what blockchain can do with our simple guide to DeFi.
Disclosure: The author owns a range of cryptocurrencies at the time of writing.
