Despite the fierce headwinds the crypto industry has faced over the past year, Web3 development activity has grown at an impressive rate, according to a new report.

One of those key indicators is the number of smart contracts deployed in the Ethereal mainnet, which grew 293% compared to 2021, reaching rates that resembled the previous year’s peaks, according to the “Q4’22 State of Web3 Report” released today by blockchain software and development company Alchemy.

Surprisingly, this spike in activity came in Q4 2022, just as FTX crashed, triggering heavy outflows on the largest exchanges in the industry.

According to the report, the number of smart contracts deployed in Q4 2022 grew 453% quarter-on-quarter, reaching a staggering 4.6 million.

In addition, smart contract deployment on the Ethereum Goerli testnet grew 187% over the last three months of 2022, and up 721% year-over-year, to reach an all-time high of 2.7 million, signaling that more decentralized applications (dapps) may enter the market in the future.

The report used various sources to collect data, including Dune Analytics, DappRadar, and Github, among others.

Developer activity on the rise

Smart contracts, a term coined by blockchain pioneer Nick Szabo in the 1990s, are self-executing pieces of computer code that debuted on the Ethereum blockchain, laying the foundation for decentralized exchanges (DEXs). and loan applications and non-custodial loans.

“The Web3 developer community is proving to be extremely resilient. This report shows that they are as focused and motivated as ever to build the future of this ecosystem.—while also honestly acknowledging the unnecessary setbacks we’ve seen in 2022,” Alchemy’s head of growth Jason Shah said. decipher.

Additionally, in December, Alchemy surveyed 985 developers, and of those, 94% said they were engaged in building on Web3, which “highlighted a positive outlook despite being in the middle of crypto winter,” according to Alchemy.

Following the launch of its Alchemy University in October, the San Francisco-based company said more than 100,000 applications arrived, indicating a strong interest in developing Web3 development skills.

“We are encouraged by these numbers and expect developer activity to continue to increase in 2023,” Shah said. decipheralthough he admits that this could potentially be happening at a slower rate due to declining investment in Web3 companies.