Private blockchains have been full of developers for three years

The main permissible blockchain protocols (besu, Corda, Fabric, MultiChain, Quorum and Sawtooth) attract an increasing number of developers due to the development of projects of private blockchains in the business.

Different actors, like ConsenSys, hope to convince companies to adopt public blockchain networks or encourage interoperability between private and public blockchain. Today, however, companies continue to favor private environments for their applications. And several blockchain protocols, like besu, Corda or Quorum, allow them.

This corporate preference for private blockchain can be seen in the rise in number of developers involved in the development of these open source protocols. According to a study by Chainstack, the number of these developers has increased 12-fold in the space of three years.

More dynamic blockchain communities

Two technologies are nevertheless essential among the blockchain industry, namely Fabric and Corda, which "represent an important part of all activities", especially in terms of contributions to the open source code. Notable differences persist, however.

Fabric, for example, has a much larger developer network that interacts with its repository to a much lesser degree, while Corda has fewer but very active developers, "notes Chainstack.

Indeed, the community Hyperledger Fabric has 17,561 active contributors, compared to 5,678 for Corda. On the other hand, the number of contributions to Corda reached 30,382 over the period, almost three times more than for Fabric (12,439).

Contribution does not rhyme with maturity or adoption

But the study also allows us to understand that the sustainability of some protocols of permissible blockchains is not yet insured. Sawtooth is for example marked by a peak in activity from the 4th quarter of 2018 to the first quarter of 2019. This period is however followed by a sharp decrease in the number of developers and their contributions during the year 2019.

Enterprise blockchain development is still a nascent and evolving universe within the broader framework of software development, ”said the study authors.

They also warn that these developer activity indicators are not a guarantee of technology maturity or of its adoption.