US is losing crypto talent as blockchain developers seek safer haven
It is usually third world countries that often say they are experiencing a “brain drain” – the bleeding of talent to other countries or parts of the world. But it seems that the US is now the one seeing talent flee to other parts of the world, at least when it comes to blockchain developers.
The number of blockchain developers in the US has declined every year since 2017, according to a recent report from Electric Capital. While that is arguably a bad sign for American innovation, it also points to a globally growing remote crypto ecosystem and workforce in a post-COVID world.
According to the report, the US share of blockchain developers has fallen 2% per year over the past five years, falling to 29% last year from 40% in 2017.
“The question is whether it matters and why,” Paul Stavropoulos, CEO of credit-focused platform bridging the web 2.0 and web3 world Archie Finance, told TechCrunch+. “First and foremost is the overall growth of the ecosystem. It’s been constant, which is fantastic, but it’s not good that the US is losing market share.”
Compared to other regions of the world, the decline in the United States is “a marginal difference,” said Maria Shen, partner at Electric Capital. Europe (excluding the UK) maintained a steady share of around 29% over the five years from 2017 to 2022.
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“There’s a counterpoint where it’s not a bad thing that the U.S. is losing developer market share, but maybe what’s important is the total number of developers,” Stavropoulos said. “Covid has been a big help in building remote teams; it’s no longer taboo to build a team with people all over the world.”
Archie Finance’s engineering team is Slovenian, but it is still a US-based team, Stavropoulos noted. “Maybe it’s not as important that the engineering talent stays in the U.S. as it is that the company’s innovation itself starts in the U.S. I think the scary thing is when innovation doesn’t touch the U.S. at all because of accredited investor rules or people don’t want to be imprisoned. “
Overall, a significant increase in the number of developers is the most important thing, Stavropoulos said.
The pie is growing
Over the past seven years, the crypto industry has gained over 22,000 monthly active developers, bringing the total number to 23,343 as of December, up 5% from a year earlier, the report said. About 52% of all monthly active developers started contributing in 2022, marking a large portion of the people building today.
Image credit: Electric Capital 2022 Crypto Developer Report
While the US and Europe are home to 29% of all crypto developers, regions like Asia, India, Latin America and Africa saw more crypto developers taking up the torch in 2022.
“There is incredible untapped potential around the world,” Stavropoulos said. “It’s also cheaper to hire extremely qualified engineers abroad.”
