Composable: Exploring Crypto’s Building Blocks (an Espresso Pod) - The War for Developers - with Maria Shen, author of Electric Capital's Developer Report

The War for Developers - with Maria Shen, author of Electric Capital's Developer Report

01/09/25 • 54 min

Composable: Exploring Crypto’s Building Blocks (an Espresso Pod)

In this episode of Composable, hosts Alicia and Ellie sit down with Maria Shen from Electric Capital to discuss their latest Developer Report that's making waves in the crypto space. They dive deep into how the war for developers is shaping up — with particularly noteworthy data on Ethereum losing out to Solana for most new devs, and a migration of Ethereum devs to working L2s.
Key topics covered:

The surprising rise of Solana as the leader in attracting new developers, while Ethereum maintains the largest overall developer ecosystem
How Asia has become the #1 continent for crypto developers, with India rising from 10th to 2nd place since 2015
The distinction between Ethereum ecosystem developers vs EVM developers, and how this affects developer statistics
Why Base and other L2s are becoming crucial for Ethereum's developer ecosystem growth
The impact of community support and DevRel efforts on attracting new developers
How DEX activity has shifted predominantly to Solana (81% of transactions) largely due to meme coin activity
The importance of full-time developers (35% on Ethereum vs 18% on Solana) and their impact on ecosystem development
The correlation between crypto prices and new developer activity in the space
The emergence of multi-chain development as a growing trend among developers

Whether you're a developer, crypto enthusiast, or just curious about where the talent in Web3 is heading, this episode offers valuable insights into the current state of blockchain development and where it might be going next.

Composable is a bi-weekly podcast exploring crypto's building blocks. Hosted by Alysia and Ellie, and brought to you by Espresso.

Find us on X:
Composable — @composablepod
Alysia — @alysiatech
Ellie — @ellierdavidson

The surprising rise of Solana as the leader in attracting new developers, while Ethereum maintains the largest overall developer ecosystem
How Asia has become the #1 continent for crypto developers, with India rising from 10th to 2nd place since 2015
The distinction between Ethereum ecosystem developers vs EVM developers, and how this affects developer statistics
Why Base and other L2s are becoming crucial for Ethereum's developer ecosystem growth
The impact of community support and DevRel efforts on attracting new developers
How DEX activity has shifted predominantly to Solana (81% of transactions) largely due to meme coin activity
The importance of full-time developers (35% on Ethereum vs 18% on Solana) and their impact on ecosystem development
The correlation between crypto prices and new developer activity in the space
The emergence of multi-chain development as a growing trend among developers

Composable is a bi-weekly podcast exploring crypto's building blocks. Hosted by Alysia and Ellie, and brought to you by Espresso.

Find us on X:
Composable — @composablepod
Alysia — @alysiatech
Ellie — @ellierdavidson

Previous Episode

From Preconfirmations to BFT Confirmations: The Quest for Stronger Transaction Guarantees

In this episode of Composable, hosts Alicia and Ellie dive deep into the world of blockchain confirmations, exploring the nuances between preconfirmations, confirmations (like those provided by the Espresso Network), and L1 finality. They unpack how these different levels of transaction verification impact user experience and interoperability.

Key topics covered:

The emergence and evolution of preconfirmations, particularly in relation to based sequencing, and how they differ from BFT confirmations
The role of centralized vs. decentralized sequencers and their impact on trust assumptions
How preconfirmations affect cross-chain interoperability
The trade-offs between user experience and security when using different confirmation types
The future of execution preconfirmations and shared sequencing
The impact of MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) on preconfirmation systems
Discussion of real-world implementations, including Arbitrum and Optimism
The relationship between Data Availability (DA) layers and preconfirmations
Analysis of "based rollups" and their implications for blockchain architecture

Whether you're a blockchain developer, crypto enthusiast, or simply curious about the technical foundations of web3, this episode offers valuable insights into how transaction confirmations are shaping the future of blockchain infrastructure.

Composable is an Espresso Pod, a production of Espresso Systems. All opinions expressed by Composable’s hosts and podcast guests are solely their own views. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment, legal, or technical advice.

Composable is a bi-weekly podcast exploring crypto's building blocks. Hosted by Alysia and Ellie, and brought to you by Espresso.

Find us on X:
Composable — @composablepod
Alysia — @alysiatech
Ellie — @ellierdavidson

Next Episode

Crossing Chains: Putting Cross-Chain Bridges to the Test

Join hosts Ellie and Alysia as they discuss the realities of cross-chain bridges, including looking at which are the most used, crypto UX, security tradeoffs, etc. — and then put several bridges to the test in a live demo, bridging assets across Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Base.

Key topics covered include:

Speed and fee comparisons across different bridge types
Bridge architectures: canonical, intent-based, and externally verified
Security tradeoffs between bridge designs
Emerging trends: intent standardization and ZK bridges
Current state of bridging UX and areas for improvement

The live demo segment didn't make for great audio content, but you if you'd like to watch them test drive these bridges, you can find the video on Composable's YouTube channel at youtube.com/@composablepod.
Essential listening for anyone looking to understand blockchain interoperability and cross-chain asset transfers.

Composable is a bi-weekly podcast exploring crypto's building blocks. Hosted by Alysia and Ellie, and brought to you by Espresso.

Find us on X:
Composable — @composablepod
Alysia — @alysiatech
Ellie — @ellierdavidson