Ethereum maintains its position as a “legacy blockchain.” Despite a market teeming with faster and more scalable alternatives, it continues to hold its ground remarkably well. The secret? It’s the developer community of ETH. According to the reprots, Ethereum has seen an influx of 16,181 new developers in the first ten months of 2025, raising the total count to 31,869. This serves as a definitive indication that it remains a magnet for developers, bolstering ETH’s position in the competitive landscape. But is this momentum truly propelling network expansion? A similar spike in developer activity was observed in 2019–2020, just ahead of the DeFi explosion. In this context, is ETH poised for another significant adoption cycle?
In 2019 and 2020, Ethereum’s developer ecosystem experienced significant growth. In 2020, Ethereum welcomed over 300 new developers each month. The surge in talent has led to a remarkable 67% increase in the number of developers actively engaged in DeFi projects since the beginning of the year. This surge indeed coincided with the launch of DeFi platforms such as Uniswap, laying the groundwork for Ethereum’s swift adoption. The outcome? The Total Value Locked experienced a remarkable increase, skyrocketing from $700 million to an impressive $15 billion by early 2021. In summary, the increase in developer activity has directly driven network expansion. As of now, Ethereum’s TVL is at $85 billion, accounting for approximately 56% of the entire DeFi sector. This marks a $20 billion increase since the start of 2025, solidifying ETH’s position at the forefront of DeFi adoption. The influx of 16,181 developers this year represents more than just a statistic in the current landscape. The network is clearly focused on building strategies to sustain growth and uphold its market dominance, especially in the face of rising competition.
Ethereum’s scaling initiatives have achieved notable progress this year. Innovations such as Pico Prism are propelling the network towards the capability of processing up to 10,000 transactions per second. Additionally, the gas limit has increased by 50% to reach 45 million, facilitating more seamless execution throughout the ecosystem. In straightforward terms, developers are redirecting their attention to scaling solutions aimed at improving network efficiency, instead of creating completely new protocols. The recent shift has resulted in a staggering 200% increase in the total value of tokenized assets on Ethereum, which now stands at $12 billion. In 2025, a remarkable 200% surge in real-world asset tokenization underscores the effectiveness of Ethereum’s scaling initiatives, drawing significant interest from institutional players and empowering enterprises to tokenize their assets.
ETH developers are clearly prioritizing infrastructure-focused work by optimizing network throughput. This shift indicates that the enhancements in the network’s performance are directly leading to real-world adoption. Clearly, while ETH’s price may not be reaching new all-time highs, the Ethereum network continues to expand within DeFi protocols and the tokenized market, highlighting developer activity as a crucial indicator for ETH’s future growth potential.