The decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) markets have experienced explosive growth, driven by continuous capital inflow and advancements in blockchain development protocols. A recent report by Outlier Ventures analyzes development trends across core blockchain protocols, DeFi, and NFT projects over the past year, revealing significant shifts in developer activity and project momentum.
Core Blockchain Protocols
The report examined the top 50 open-source blockchain protocols by market capitalization, along with permissioned platforms Corda and Hyperledger. Key metrics included core development commits, contributor numbers, and repository statistics.
Key Findings
Ethereum remains the most actively developed blockchain protocol with 42,457 commits, followed by Cardano (37,327) and Bitcoin (21,614). Polkadot and Cosmos also showed substantial activity with 18,879 and 17,854 commits respectively.
Multi-chain protocols like Polkadot and Cosmos maintained consistent growth, while Avalanche achieved a fourfold increase in weekly commits and monthly active developers, reaching approximately 50% of the activity levels seen in Cosmos and Polkadot.
Decentralized storage protocols Filecoin and Siacoin demonstrated remarkable growth. Filecoin entered the top five most actively developed projects within a year of its public launch.
Several Ethereum competitors, including Tron, EOS, Komodo, and Qtum, experienced declines in core development metrics.
In the enterprise blockchain sector, Hyperledger showed higher development activity than Corda, though Corda exhibited slightly better growth trends.
Top 5 Most Active Protocols
Ethereum and Cardano lead in development activity with average weekly commits of 866 and 761 respectively. Bitcoin (441), Filecoin (405), and Polkadot (385) follow at approximately half their commit volumes.
In terms of monthly active developers, Ethereum leads with 220, followed by Hyperledger (149), Cardano (144), Bitcoin (103), and Filecoin (92).
Rising Projects
Avalanche, Ocean Protocol, and Terra achieved significant growth in core development. Avalanche’s commit count quadrupled by year-end, Terra’s increased nearly fivefold, and Ocean Protocol saw a 345% rise in commits by December.
Hedera Hashgraph and IOTA also posted gains. Hedera open-sourced its network services and consensus algorithm, while IOTA launched its Rust node “Bee” and the Chrysalis network upgrade.
Avalanche, Terra, and Flow substantially increased their developer counts. Ocean Protocol and Haven Protocol doubled their contributor numbers. Polkadot’s monthly active core developers doubled, while Cosmos saw a 60% increase.
Filecoin recorded strong growth, particularly during Q3 2020, as it prepared for its mid-October mainnet launch. Commit volume increased by 175% from the beginning of the year, with developer activity peaking around the mainnet release.
Solana (36%), Monero (35%), Zilliqa (33%), Tezos (30%), and Near Protocol (22%) also increased their developer contributions. Near Protocol showed a significant spike around its April 2020 mainnet launch.
Declining Projects
EOS, Tron, XRP, Qtum, Komodo, Nano, Handshake, and WAX saw commit volumes drop by 50% or more. WAX’s shift toward the NFT market may explain its reduced open-source development activity.
Tron, EOS, Cardano, Qtum, WAX, and Komodo saw declines in developer counts. Ethereum Classic and Bitcoin SV also decreased over the past year.
Permissioned blockchain development underperformed. Hyperledger’s core development declined significantly after a strong start, while Corda showed better sustainability but still trailed Hyperledger overall.
Consistent Performers
Several protocols maintained stable development with over 50 weekly commits on average. These include The Graph, Dash, ZCash, Zilliqa, Tezos, Decred, Solana, Oasis, and Fetch.ai.
A large group of protocols averaged at least 10 monthly active developers, led by Celo (50), IOTA (45), Stellar (39), Decred (38), and Zcash (29).
Polkadot and Cosmos maintained stable core development metrics and continued their growth from the previous year. Polkadot’s commit count increased by 53% from early weeks to May, leading up to its relay chain release.
Bitcoin and Ethereum showed strong yearly development despite a slight decline in core activity toward the end of 2020.
DeFi Protocols
2020 was the year of DeFi. The total value locked in DeFi protocols surged from under $700 million in January to approximately $15 billion by December.
Key Findings
Maker remains the most actively developed DeFi protocol, though its activity is declining. The most active projects overall are Maker, Gnosis, and Synthetix, with Gnosis showing the most stable weekly activity (276 commits) and Synthetix the largest increase (58%).
Aave (763%) and Bancor (264%) saw the largest growth in commit numbers.
Yearn Finance and SushiSwap, both launched in 2020, grew rapidly and surpassed the development scale of most other DeFi protocols.
Top 5 Most Active DeFi Projects
By commit volume, the most active DeFi projects are Gnosis, Maker, Synthetix, Augur, and Bancor. Gnosis leads in stability and volume, while Synthetix shows the highest growth.
In terms of monthly active developers, the top five include Maker, Gnosis, Synthetix, Compound, and Uniswap.
Rising DeFi Projects
Aave, Bancor, Set Protocol, and mStable saw commit increases of 763%, 264%, 161%, and 153% respectively. SushiSwap and Yearn Finance also posted substantial gains from a base of zero.
Balancer (190%), Aave (144%), Bancor (133%), mStable, Loopring, Uniswap, and Set Protocol all increased their monthly active developers by over 50%. SushiSwap and Yearn Finance grew their developer counts to 29 and 11 respectively within months.
Declining DeFi Projects
Several top projects, including Maker, Compound, and Augur, saw commit volumes and developer counts drop by over one-third. This suggests a migration of developers from established projects to newer protocols.
Projects with commit declines exceeding 33% include bZx, Maker, Opyn, InstaDApp, Alpha Homora, dYdX, Compound, Augur, RenVM, and MCDEX.
Maker, Compound, RenVM, MCDEX, dYdX, Augur, and Metronome each lost over 33% of their monthly active developers.
Consistent DeFi Projects
Balancer, Gnosis, Nexus Mutual, Uniswap, and Loopring maintained stable commit volumes throughout the year. Gnosis averaged 276 weekly commits, comparable to major blockchain protocols like Polkadot and Cosmos.
NFT and Virtual World Projects
NFTs gained significant traction in 2020, particularly in the second half. Digital art and gaming applications built on standards like ERC-721 and ERC-1155 grew substantially. Virtual worlds also expanded as pandemic lockdowns increased demand for online social interaction.
Key Findings
In contrast to DeFi, most NFT and virtual projects adopt closed-source development. Increased market interest has not translated into higher open-source activity.
Decentraland is a notable exception, with open-source development levels comparable to major DeFi protocols.
Selected Projects
The analysis focused on projects with measurable open-source activity: Axie Infinity (virtual/gaming), Cryptovoxels (virtual), Decentraland (virtual), Enjin (collectibles/gaming), and Opensea (NFT marketplace).
Development Activity
Decentraland averaged 108 weekly commits, placing it on par with major blockchain protocols like ZCash and Stellar. It ranks among the top five most active projects in this category, ahead of major DeFi protocols like Uniswap and Compound.
Axie Infinity, Cryptovoxels, Enjin, and Opensea showed much lower open-source activity, concentrated mainly in the first half of 2020.
Decentraland maintained a stable count of 20 monthly active open-source developers, comparable to Hedera Hashgraph and Algorand. Other projects trailed significantly: Opensea (3), Axie Infinity and Enjin (2), and Cryptovoxels (1).
👉 Explore more development insights
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the most developed blockchain in 2021?
Ethereum remained the most actively developed blockchain with over 42,000 commits, followed by Cardano and Bitcoin. Multi-chain protocols like Polkadot and Cosmos also showed strong growth.
Which DeFi protocol grew the fastest in 2020?
Aave saw the largest growth in commit volume at 763%, followed by Bancor at 264%. Newer protocols like Yearn Finance and SushiSwap also expanded rapidly.
Why did some Ethereum competitors decline in development?
Projects like Tron, EOS, and Qtum saw reduced developer activity, possibly due to market shifts toward multi-chain ecosystems and DeFi-focused platforms.
How did Filecoin perform after its mainnet launch?
Filecoin entered the top five most actively developed projects within a year of its launch, with commit volume increasing 175% as it prepared for its mainnet release.
Are most NFT projects open-source?
No, most NFT marketplaces, collectibles, and gaming projects use closed-source development. Decentraland is a major exception with substantial open-source activity.
What trends are shaping blockchain development in 2021?
Multi-chain interoperability, decentralized storage, and DeFi innovation are key drivers. Developer migration toward newer, high-growth protocols is also evident.