Web3 Developers are not at All Phased by Crypto Downfall

Alchemy's report says Web3 developers are 'more active than ever' amid crypto downfall​​

Web3 developers don't appear to be downshifted by the crypto downfall, with one Web3 platform revealing that they are "more active than ever" — specifically on the Ethereum network. In a recent Q3 2022 report on Oct. 13 by Web3 development platform Alchemy, the company said that 2022 could be the "biggest year yet" for Web3 developers.

The report mentions that more than 36% of all smart contracts ever deployed and verified on the blockchain have been in 2022, a count of nearly 118,000 compared to the over 323,700 ever deployed. This was the scenario despite the price of Ether plunging by nearly 66% since the start of the year and the total value locked in decentralized finance (Defi) protocols declining around 70% year-to-date, according to DappRadar. Nonfungible token (NFT) trading volumes have also shown a downfall, decreasing by 98% since late January. Alchemy said that the deployment of smart contracts escalated by 40% from the first quarter of the year with consecutive all-time highs hit every month over the third quarter peaking at 17,376 in September alone. 

The data also points to smart contract deployments heightening by 143% compared to the third quarter of 2021, reaching over 48,500 for the third quarter of 2022. Alchemy points out that in the two weeks following Ethereum's Merge — when the blockchain moved from a proof-of-work to proof-of-stake consensus — smart contract deployment continued to increase by 14%, suggesting some Web3 developers may have been waiting for the event to launch their projects. The company also analyzed the usage of two Web3 script libraries, Ethers.js and Web3.js, which permit developers to read blockchain data and build Web3 products. The team found the number of Web3 developers installing either library had increased by three times that of Q3 2021 to over 1.5 million downloads on average per week.

Although many claims suggest that this present crypto bear market is a good time to build products in Web3 that has not always been the case in previous cycles. As evidenced in Alchemy's (Web3 platform) data, the 2017- 2020 bear market experienced a 45% downturn in smart contract deployments in the middle of the cycle, from 2018 to 2019, although till now that metric has increased by 50% this year from 2021.