Cryptocurrency analytics firm Santiment has released its latest ranking of the top decentralized finance (DeFi) projects by developer activity, based on data from "significant developer events" on GitHub over the past 30 days. The report, which filters out low-value actions and inherited code from forks to focus on meaningful coding work, provides a snapshot of where developer attention is concentrated as the industry heads into 2026.
Chainlink (LINK) secured the top position with a development activity score of 222.43. At the time of the ranking, LINK was trading near $12.7 with a market capitalization of approximately $8.62 billion. The project's leading role in providing oracle services that connect blockchains with external data sources underscores its foundational position in the DeFi infrastructure.
The rest of the top ten list, with their respective 30-day developer activity scores, is as follows: DeFiChain (DFI) in second place (127.93), DeepBook Protocol on Sui (DEEP) in third (116.50), Lido DAO (LDO) in fourth (58.47), FOX Token (FOX) in fifth (50.80), Babylon (BABY) in sixth (43.47), Aave (AAVE) in seventh (42.13), Uniswap (UNI) in eighth (33.63), Curve Finance (CRV) in ninth (30.70), and Euler (EUL) rounding out the list in tenth (24.70).
Notable movers in the rankings include Aave and Uniswap, both of which rose from their previous positions, reflecting increased development activity over the measured period. Aave, a leading lending protocol, was trading near $154.20 with a market cap of about $2.35 billion. Uniswap, the prominent decentralized exchange, traded near $5.83 with a market cap of roughly $3.57 billion.
The report contextualizes this developer focus against a backdrop of recent market performance for DeFi tokens, noting they have been "performing far below their previous levels" compared to the 2021 bull run. It highlights challenges for tokens with high fully diluted valuations (FDV) or unlimited supplies, which can experience significant price pressure despite stable market capitalizations.
Santiment's methodology and these rankings are closely watched by investors and researchers as a gauge of project health and long-term commitment, offering a view of technical progress alongside financial metrics.
