Privacy-focused and Layer-2 projects are dominating the crypto development landscape, according to new data from Santiment. The analytics platform’s latest report shows Starknet (STRK), zkSync (ZK), and Worldcoin (WLD)leading all privacy-related crypto assets by on-chain developer activity over the past 30 days, signaling that innovation continues even as markets cool.
Santiment’s chart highlights that Starknet ranked first with a development activity score of 117.43, followed by zkSyncat 82.63 and Worldcoin at 43.4. These three projects reflect growing interest in scalable, privacy-preserving solutionsbuilt atop Ethereum.
Rounding out the top five were NYM, a network focused on privacy infrastructure, and FOX Token (ShapeShift), both of which showed sustained developer engagement despite recent market volatility.
Other strong performers included Oasis Network (ROSE), Dash (DASH), iExec RLC (RLC), Celo (CELO), and Zcash (ZEC), all long-time players in privacy, DeFi, and decentralized computing.
Despite sharp price declines across much of the market, Santiment’s findings reveal that developer activity in privacy-related and scaling ecosystems has remained remarkably steady. Projects like zkSync and Starknet have seen significant testnet upgrades and code pushes in recent weeks, while Worldcoin’s verification infrastructure continues to expand globally.
Santiment explained that its ranking is derived from “notable GitHub activity”, filtering for meaningful contributions rather than automated or redundant updates. The firm emphasized that consistent developer output is one of the strongest long-term health signals for any blockchain ecosystem.
While price charts for most privacy coins remain under pressure, the development leaderboard underscores how builders are still laying the groundwork for the next cycle. With regulatory discussions around user data protection heating up globally, projects like NYM, Zcash, and Oasis are positioning themselves at the forefront of privacy-centric Web3 infrastructure.
As Santiment summarized, these top ten projects represent the most active builders in crypto’s privacy and scaling space, suggesting that the sector’s technical foundations are strengthening, even during one of the market’s most uncertain phases.
