AI Boom Drains Over Half of Active Developers from Crypto Industry
AI boom drains over half of active developers from crypto industry.
Since the beginning of 2025, the number of code publications in crypto projects has plummeted by 75% — from 850,000 to 210,000. The number of active developers has decreased by 56% to 4,600, according to Artemis.
The outflow of personnel from blockchain ecosystems occurs despite the global growth of the IT sector. According to the Octoverse report, GitHub’s audience increased by 36 million people in 2025, and overall programmer activity grew by 25%.
Statistics confirm a mass migration of specialists from the crypto industry to the field of artificial intelligence. Over 4.3 million AI repositories are already hosted on GitHub. Projects in the generative AI sector attract over a million contributors monthly.
Amidst this, the base of active developers in major networks has significantly shrunk:
Networks that were popular during the last bull market have suffered even more. Aptos and Celo have lost more than half of their developers, and activity in BNB Chain has plummeted by 85%.
The only segment with positive dynamics is the infrastructure of non-custodial wallets, where employment has grown by 6%.
The industry is primarily losing newcomers and part-time employees — their numbers have decreased by 58%. Meanwhile, the share of specialists with more than two years of experience has increased by 27%. This “core” now accounts for 70% of all programming code in crypto projects.
Developer activity typically returns with the growth of the cryptocurrency market. However, during previous downturns, programmers did not have such attractive alternatives.
Today, the generative AI sector offers active venture funding and high commercial demand, which may hinder the return of talent to the blockchain industry.
Earlier in 2025, the number of developers in the Ethereum ecosystem increased by 16,181.
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