Geth, the command line interface for running a full Ethereum node implemented in Go, one of the blockchain protocol’s three major implementations, is the fifth fastest growing open-source project on Github.
Péter Szilágyi, an Ethereum team lead and an active blockchain developer, shared the report of Octoverse, which revealed that the official Go implementation of the Ethereum protocol is experiencing faster growth than Wix, Spyder, and Marlin, engaging in a tight competition against the world’s largest open-source projects.
Exponential Growth Rate of Crypto
At TechCrunch Disrupt, Ben Horowitz, the co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, a leading venture capital firm in the technology sector, stated that the level of developer activity in crypto exceeds that of the early days of the Internet.
Horowitz emphasized that at their infancy, emerging technologies seem significantly inferior to existing solutions. For instance, in early 1990s, the mobile phone technology was dismissed by critics such as economist Nouriel Roubini due to its inability to conduct various operations a computer could with ease.
However, the mobile phone technology demonstrated an exponential rate of growth with massive consumer adoption with companies like Apple and Samsung leading the global market.
Crypto, like mobile phones, are generally worse in processing transactions and data in comparison legacy systems. But, as seen in the recent settlement of a $194 million payment on the Bitcoin blockchain with a $0.1 fee, it has several new capabilities that the existing financial system cannot deliver.
“I think that there is probably more developer activity in crypto than in anything we’ve seen since the Internet and the right way to think about it is, it’s a new computing platform. Once every decade or two, a new computing platform comes along. The thing that is deceptive about is that when the new platform at the time is generally worse in most ways than the old platform but has some new capabilities,” said Horowitz.
Incentivized by the initial coin offering (ICO) market, many Ethereum developers have amassed a fortune by developing and deploying unique decentralized applications (dApps). The increase in capital available to creators and a general rise in interest towards decentralized systems have led Ethereum and its open-source protocol to experience an unprecedented growth rate.
This week, the Wave IV of the Ethereum Foundation Grants Program released millions of dollars to 20 Ethereum projects working on scalability, usability, and security.
The Ethereum Foundation wrote:
“While the program continues to grow, we will increasingly continue to involve more community members in the decision making process. The Grants Program today is vastly improved from just earlier this year, thanks to all the helpful feedback from the community, allowing us to provide better public tools and infrastructure.”
Core Development is Crucial
The vast majority of projects funded by the Ethereum Foundation and other grants established by major businesses in the cryptocurrency sector are open-source projects that attempt to improve the base layer of the Ethereum blockchain technology, which includes Geth and the Ethereum Go implementation.
While commercial platforms and dApps using the ERC20 token standard focus on achieving mass adoption of the blockchain through the deployment of unique and innovative decentralized services, the open-source protocol of Ethereum serves as the backbone of all dApps.
The rapid development of Geth and the Ethereum Go implementation is positive for the long-term growth of the ecosystem.
