The “brain drain” – the exodus of talent to other nations or regions of the world — is typically reported by third-world nations. However, it appears that talent is now leaving the United States for other countries, at least in terms of blockchain engineers.
Since 2017, fewer blockchain developers have been working in the United States, according to a recent analysis by Electric Capital. In a post-COVID environment, it also hints to a worldwide expanding remote crypto economy and workforce, even though it’s debatably a poor indication for American innovation.
The survey claims that over the past five years, the percentage of blockchain developers in the United States has decreased 2% annually, from 40% in 2017 to 29% last year.
Paul Stavropoulos, CEO of Archie Finance, a credit-focused platform that bridges the Web 2.0 and Web 3 worlds, said, The question is does it matter and why. The ecosystem’s general expansion is the first and most crucial factor. It’s great that it has been consistent, but it’s bad that the United States is losing market share.
America’s decline is “a marginal difference” in comparison to other geographical areas, according to Maria Shen, partner at Electric Capital. Between 2017 and 2022, Europe (excluding the United Kingdom) consistently held a share of roughly 29%.
At the moment, enforcement actions are used to send a lot of information to the cryptocurrency business. That discourages innovation. Austin King, co-founder and CEO of Recursive
There is a counterargument that says it’s okay that the United States is losing market share of developers, but Stavropoulos suggested that the quantity of developers overall may be more significant. Building remote teams has benefited greatly from COVID; creating teams of people from different countries is no longer frowned upon.
Though Slovenian, the engineering team at Archie Finance is still based in the United States, according to Stavropoulos. “Starting the company’s innovation in the U.S. may be more crucial than keeping engineering talent in the country. The thing that scares him the most, in his opinion, is when innovation completely bypasses the US due to accredited investor regulations or public sentiment against going to jail.
Overall, Stavropoulos added, a large rise in the number of developers is what matters most.
This pie is expanding
According to the survey, over 22,000 new monthly active developers have joined the cryptocurrency business during the past seven years, bringing the total to 23,343 as of December, an increase of 5% over the previous year. In 2022, a significant portion of the developers who are still active today—about 52% of all monthly active developers—started contributing.
While 29% of all cryptocurrency developers reside in the U.S. and Europe, Asia, India, Latin America, and Africa showed a rise in the number of new developers in this field in 2022.
Stavropoulos asserted that the world has incredible unrealized potential. “Hiring highly skilled engineers abroad is also less expensive.”
