The Ethereum dev discount 💸

Ethereum developers make half what they could working for other blockchains, according to a new report.

Author

Aleks Gilbert
September 16, 2025

GM, Aleks here.

Apparently, it doesn’t pay to be an Ethereum developer. 

The software developers who work to maintain and improve the Ethereum blockchain earn a median salary of $140,000, according to a new survey. 

It’s not bad — until you consider what they could be making elsewhere. 

Ethereum core developers who had the opportunity to jump ship were offered median salaries of $300,000, or more than double what they’re currently paid to improve the world’s preeminent smart contract blockchain, according to Protocol Guild’s survey.

Ethereum is maintained by a distributed group of software developers. Many work for the Ethereum Foundation, which sat on more than $970 million in crypto and other assets as of last October. 

But a lot of them work for other crypto companies that employ Ethereum core developers as a gesture of goodwill. 

Of an estimated 200 to 300 Ethereum core developers, 190 are Protocol Guild members, and 111 responded to the organisation’s survey. 

The results were bleak: in addition to a median salary of $140,000, only 37% of respondents received any equity or token grants from employers. In other words, they don’t get the financial upside many expect when going into tech. 

For comparison’s sake, an entry-level employee at Coinbase earns a base salary of $150,000 and an additional $56,000 in stock and bonuses each year, according to Protocol Guild. 

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To be sure, Coinbase is a US company, and presumably many respondents in the Protocol Guild survey are based in nations where salaries are lower. 

Moreover, Protocol Guild works to supplement developer’s income with tokens donated by Ethereum-based projects. It claims to have distributed more than $33 million since 2022. 

But 38% of respondents said they received job offers in the past year — mostly from other blockchains, including layer 2 blockchains in the Ethereum ecosystem. As noted above, they were offered a median salaries of $300,000. 

This isn’t just about getting developers their due, according to Protocol Guild. Lower compensation means that the best and the brightest don’t have an incentive to work on Ethereum itself. 

In the extreme, this risks slowing down upgrades and making “core devs more susceptible to payments for influence,” the report reads.

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