Top 50 Blockchain Projects 2026, Ranked by GitHub Activity

By DeHub Team — 2026-10-26

Which blockchains are actually being built in 2026? Prices and headlines move every day, but code is harder to fake. We counted every commit and every active developer across 123 public GitHub repositories behind 86 blockchain projects over the last 90 days, then ranked the 50 most active blockchain projects by GitHub activity. Every number below comes from the projects' own public code.

How we scored the top 50 blockchain projects

• What we counted: commits on the default branch of each project's main public repositories (node client, core protocol and specs, up to three repos per project) between 28 July and 26 October 2026.
• Commits (50 points): non-merge commits, with bots such as Dependabot and Renovate filtered out.
• Developers (50 points): unique human commit authors in the same window.
• Scale: both parts use a log scale against the leader, so the busiest project on commits gets 50 and the biggest team gets 50. A project needs both a lot of code and a lot of people to reach the top.
• Forks: where a chain runs a fork of another codebase, we removed the upstream commits it pulled in, so only its own work counts.

GitHub activity is not the same as price, users or security. Some teams build in private, some ship in big batches, and some coins are simply finished. Treat this as a picture of who is building in public right now, not as investment advice.

The top 10 most active blockchains

#1 Solana: 100/100

• Activity: 2,618 commits from 128 developers, the most commits of any blockchain on this list.
• Repos: anza-xyz/agave (Anza's validator) and firedancer-io/firedancer (Jump Crypto's independent validator).
• What they are building: most of the work is Alpenglow, Solana's new consensus design (the Votor and Rotor components show up in hundreds of commits), plus a faster accounts database and snapshots. Two separate validator teams shipping at this pace is rare.
• Website: solana.com

#2 Ethereum: 92/100

• Activity: 696 commits from 129 developers, the biggest team on this list.
• Repos: ethereum/go-ethereum (Geth), ethereum/consensus-specs and ethereum/execution-specs.
• What they are building: the next network upgrade, Glamsterdam, with its consensus side (Gloas) and in-protocol block building, plus networking and sync work in Geth.
• Note: Ethereum's real activity is far higher than this. Reth, Nethermind, Besu, Erigon, Lighthouse, Prysm, Teku and other clients are built by separate teams and are not counted here.
• Website: ethereum.org

#3 Bitcoin: 87/100

• Activity: 740 commits from 81 developers in Bitcoin Core.
• Repos: bitcoin/bitcoin.
• What they are building: wallet and descriptor work, the bitcoin kernel library that splits consensus code out of the node, mempool and validation improvements, and a lot of new tests.
• Website: bitcoincore.org

#4 Zcash: 86/100

• Activity: 1,056 commits from 60 developers.
• Repos: ZcashFoundation/zebra and zcash/librustzcash. The old zcashd node had no commits in the window.
• What they are building: Zebra, the Rust node that is replacing zcashd, plus the shared Rust libraries behind Zcash wallets. One of the biggest privacy-coin teams in crypto.
• Website: z.cash

#5 Cardano: 85/100

• Activity: 1,146 commits from 51 developers.
• Repos: IntersectMBO/cardano-node, cardano-ledger and ouroboros-consensus.
• What they are building: the next ledger era (Dijkstra), Ouroboros Leios for much higher throughput, and Plutus V4 smart contracts.
• Website: cardano.org

#6 Tempo: 84/100

• Activity: 1,087 commits from 48 developers, the highest score of any new chain.
• Repos: tempoxyz/tempo.
• What they are building: a payments-first blockchain from Stripe and Paradigm, with work on zones, proving, consensus and payment precompiles.
• Website: tempo.xyz

#7 Optimism: 81/100

• Activity: 550 commits from 53 developers.
• Repos: ethereum-optimism/optimism and op-geth.
• What they are building: the OP Stack that Base, Celo, Unichain and many other chains run on, with a move to the Rust op-reth client, the Kona proof system and cross-chain interop.
• Website: optimism.io

#8 Chainlink: 81/100

• Activity: 458 commits from 62 developers.
• Repos: smartcontractkit/chainlink.
• What they are building: the Chainlink Runtime Environment (workflows and capabilities), confidential compute and a secrets vault, plus support for more chains such as Solana and Stellar.
• Website: chain.link

#9 Base: 80/100

• Activity: 1,185 commits from 29 developers.
• Repos: base/node-reth and base/node.
• What they are building: Coinbase's Layer 2 is building its own Rust node, block builder, batcher and proof system on top of the OP Stack.
• Website: base.org

#10 Sui: 80/100

• Activity: 468 commits from 51 developers.
• Repos: MystenLabs/sui.
• What they are building: consensus and execution speed-ups, checkpoints, a GraphQL API and Move bytecode tooling.
• Website: sui.io

The full top 50 at a glance

1. Solana: 100/100. Layer 1. 2,618 commits, 128 developers (anza-xyz/agave, firedancer-io/firedancer).
2. Ethereum: 92/100. Layer 1. 696 commits, 129 developers (ethereum/go-ethereum, ethereum/consensus-specs, ethereum/execution-specs).
3. Bitcoin: 87/100. Layer 1. 740 commits, 81 developers (bitcoin/bitcoin).
4. Zcash: 86/100. Privacy coin. 1,056 commits, 60 developers (ZcashFoundation/zebra, zcash/librustzcash).
5. Cardano: 85/100. Layer 1. 1,146 commits, 51 developers (IntersectMBO/cardano-node, IntersectMBO/cardano-ledger, IntersectMBO/ouroboros-consensus).
6. Tempo: 84/100. Payments chain. 1,087 commits, 48 developers (tempoxyz/tempo).
7. Optimism: 81/100. Layer 2 (OP Stack). 550 commits, 53 developers (ethereum-optimism/optimism, ethereum-optimism/op-geth).
8. Chainlink: 81/100. Oracle network. 458 commits, 62 developers (smartcontractkit/chainlink).
9. Base: 80/100. Layer 2 (OP Stack). 1,185 commits, 29 developers (base/node-reth, base/node).
10. Sui: 80/100. Layer 1. 468 commits, 51 developers (MystenLabs/sui).
11. Polkadot: 80/100. Layer 0 / parachains. 286 commits, 73 developers (paritytech/polkadot-sdk).
12. Starknet: 78/100. Layer 2 (ZK rollup). 404 commits, 48 developers (starkware-libs/sequencer, starkware-libs/cairo, eqlabs/pathfinder).
13. Arbitrum: 76/100. Layer 2 (optimistic rollup). 794 commits, 25 developers (OffchainLabs/nitro, OffchainLabs/nitro-contracts).
14. Internet Computer: 76/100. Layer 1. 706 commits, 28 developers (dfinity/ic).
15. Hedera: 76/100. Layer 1 (hashgraph). 433 commits, 36 developers (hiero-ledger/hiero-consensus-node).
16. Celestia: 75/100. Data availability. 444 commits, 33 developers (celestiaorg/celestia-app, celestiaorg/celestia-node).
17. XRP Ledger: 75/100. Layer 1. 367 commits, 39 developers (XRPLF/rippled, XRPLF/xrpl.js).
18. Dash: 74/100. Payments coin. 1,222 commits, 16 developers (dashpay/dash).
19. Monero: 74/100. Privacy coin. 344 commits, 35 developers (monero-project/monero).
20. Aleo: 73/100. Privacy Layer 1. 667 commits, 20 developers (ProvableHQ/snarkOS, ProvableHQ/snarkVM).
21. IOTA: 73/100. Layer 1. 474 commits, 27 developers (iotaledger/iota).
22. Monad: 73/100. Layer 1 (parallel EVM). 297 commits, 34 developers (category-labs/monad-bft, category-labs/monad).
23. Linea: 72/100. Layer 2 (ZK rollup). 331 commits, 31 developers (Consensys/linea-monorepo).
24. Bittensor: 71/100. AI network. 643 commits, 17 developers (opentensor/subtensor).
25. Aptos: 71/100. Layer 1. 325 commits, 26 developers (aptos-labs/aptos-core).
26. Mina: 69/100. ZK Layer 1. 821 commits, 12 developers (MinaProtocol/mina, o1-labs/proof-systems).
27. Sei: 69/100. Layer 1 (parallel EVM). 513 commits, 17 developers (sei-protocol/sei-chain).
28. Lightning Network: 69/100. Bitcoin Layer 2. 387 commits, 19 developers (lightningnetwork/lnd).
29. NEAR: 69/100. Layer 1. 307 commits, 22 developers (near/nearcore).
30. Filecoin: 67/100. Storage network. 142 commits, 31 developers (filecoin-project/lotus, filecoin-project/builtin-actors).
31. Polygon: 66/100. Sidechain + AggLayer. 237 commits, 20 developers (0xPolygon/bor, 0xPolygon/heimdall-v2, agglayer/agglayer).
32. TON: 64/100. Layer 1. 330 commits, 13 developers (ton-blockchain/ton).
33. Avalanche: 64/100. Layer 1. 221 commits, 17 developers (ava-labs/avalanchego).
34. Stacks: 64/100. Bitcoin Layer 2. 208 commits, 17 developers (stacks-network/stacks-core).
35. Flow: 61/100. Layer 1. 351 commits, 9 developers (onflow/flow-go, onflow/cadence).
36. Stellar: 61/100. Payments Layer 1. 141 commits, 16 developers (stellar/stellar-core, stellar/rs-soroban-env).
37. Taiko: 59/100. Layer 2 (based rollup). 94 commits, 17 developers (taikoxyz/taiko-mono).
38. Celo: 58/100. Layer 2 (OP Stack). 67 commits, 20 developers (celo-org/optimism, celo-org/celo-monorepo).
39. Cosmos: 57/100. Appchain framework. 65 commits, 18 developers (cosmos/cosmos-sdk, cometbft/cometbft, cosmos/gaia).
40. MultiversX: 56/100. Layer 1. 198 commits, 8 developers (multiversx/mx-chain-go, multiversx/mx-chain-vm-go).
41. Ergo: 56/100. Layer 1 (UTXO). 129 commits, 11 developers (ergoplatform/ergo).
42. BNB Chain: 55/100. Layer 1 (EVM). 100 commits, 11 developers (bnb-chain/bsc, bnb-chain/reth-bsc).
43. Algorand: 54/100. Layer 1. 79 commits, 12 developers (algorand/go-algorand).
44. Ethereum Classic: 54/100. Layer 1. 52 commits, 15 developers (etclabscore/core-geth).
45. Arweave: 51/100. Storage network. 127 commits, 6 developers (ArweaveTeam/arweave).
46. Sonic: 51/100. Layer 1 (EVM). 109 commits, 7 developers (0xsoniclabs/sonic).
47. Hyperledger Fabric: 51/100. Enterprise blockchain. 64 commits, 10 developers (hyperledger/fabric).
48. Wormhole: 51/100. Cross-chain bridge. 53 commits, 11 developers (wormhole-foundation/wormhole).
49. zkSync: 51/100. Layer 2 (ZK rollup). 50 commits, 12 developers (matter-labs/zksync-era, matter-labs/zksync-os-server, matter-labs/zksync-os).
50. Decred: 50/100. Layer 1 (hybrid PoW/PoS). 93 commits, 7 developers (decred/dcrd).

Who ships the most code

Commits show how much code lands each day. Solana is far ahead, with two validator teams working at once. Dash is a surprise at #2 on raw commits, though roughly 350 of its 1,222 commits are ports of Bitcoin Core changes.

The biggest developer teams

Developers show how many people are behind the code. Ethereum and Solana are neck and neck, Bitcoin is third, and Polkadot makes the top four on people even though it ranks lower on commits.

Layer 2s ship fast

Ethereum's Layer 2s are some of the busiest codebases in crypto. Optimism (#7) and Base (#9) lead, followed by Starknet (#12), Arbitrum (#13), Linea (#23), Taiko (#37), Celo (#38) and zkSync (#49). Because Base, Celo and many others run on the OP Stack, every commit to Optimism's code helps a whole family of chains. Scroll (15 commits), Mantle (17) and Unichain (1) were much quieter in public.

Privacy chains are busy

Privacy is one of the most active corners of crypto. Zcash is #4 overall as it moves to its new Zebra node, Monero is #19 with 35 developers, Aleo is #20 and Mina is #26. All four are building zero-knowledge or private-payment tech in the open.

Big names, little code?

Market value and public code do not always match. Solana, Cardano, Bitcoin and Ethereum are all top 5. BNB Chain is #42 with 100 commits, while Litecoin (22 commits), TRON (12) and Dogecoin (8) fall outside the top 50. Some of these teams build in private branches or ship rarely by design, so low public activity does not mean a chain has stopped working.

Gone quiet

These projects had zero commits on the default branch of their main public repo between 28 July and 26 October 2026:

• Kava: last commit 10 June 2025 (Kava-Labs/kava).
• Ronin: last commit 15 April 2026 (ronin-chain/ronin).
• Movement: last commit 15 October 2025 (movementlabsxyz/movement).
• Kadena: last commit 21 November 2025 (kadena-io/chainweb-node).
• Vaulta (EOS): last commit 12 November 2025 (AntelopeIO/spring).
• Secret Network: last commit 2 July 2026 (scrtlabs/SecretNetwork).
• Neutron: last commit 14 July 2026 (neutron-org/neutron).
• Radix, Moonbeam, Unichain and Story: one commit each in 90 days.

For scale: DeHub

DeHub is a social and streaming app, not a blockchain, so it is not ranked here. But for scale, its public web and mobile apps took 5,558 commits in the same 90 days, about twice as many as Solana, the busiest blockchain on this list. On DeHub, anyone can request a feature on dehub.io/features and watch the community build it.

Disclosure: DeHub publishes this index. DeHub is not included in the ranking.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most active blockchain on GitHub in 2026?

Solana, with 2,618 commits from 128 developers in the 90 days to 26 October 2026, across its two validator clients, Agave and Firedancer.

Which blockchain has the most developers?

Ethereum, with 129 active developers in Geth and the protocol specs alone, just ahead of Solana with 128. Counting all of Ethereum's independent clients would put it well ahead.

Does GitHub activity predict a coin's price?

No. It shows who is building in public right now. Price depends on many other things, and some strong projects build in private or ship in big batches.

How was GitHub activity measured?

We cloned each project's main public repositories and counted non-merge commits and unique human authors on the default branch between 28 July and 26 October 2026, with bots removed and upstream fork commits removed. Each project gets up to 50 points for commits and 50 for developers, on a log scale against the leader.

Where can I read about decentralized social apps?

See our sister ranking, the Top 50 Decentralized Social Apps 2026, which scores apps on users, features, GitHub activity and future potential.

Sources

• anza-xyz/agave and firedancer-io/firedancer
• ethereum/go-ethereum and ethereum/consensus-specs
• bitcoin/bitcoin
• ZcashFoundation/zebra
• IntersectMBO/cardano-ledger
• tempoxyz/tempo
• ethereum-optimism/optimism
• smartcontractkit/chainlink
• base/node-reth
• MystenLabs/sui

Build with DeHub

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