Ethereum and Solana Ecosystems Suffer from 'Hidden Unemployment' in Protocols

Most protocols based on Ethereum and Solana do not generate income, indicating a problem of 'hidden unemployment' within these ecosystems. Ethereum, the largest platform for smart contracts, has 1,271 active protocols. According to DeFi Llama, 88% of them did not generate income in the last 30 days. In the Solana ecosystem, which operates 264 protocols, the share of non-profitable projects reached 75%. CoinDesk highlights several consequences of this hidden unemployment in the blockchain sphere: ⏺ Load on infrastructure — each smart contract adds workload to the blockchain and its capacity; ⏺ Security risks — abandoned contracts become targets for hackers, potentially endangering the entire ecosystem; ⏺ Economic inefficiency — investments and thousands of developer hours are 'frozen' in unproductive assets; ⏺ Degradation of user experience — newcomers find it difficult to navigate among numerous non-working projects, undermining overall trust in DeFi. The presence of a large number of inactive protocols not only strains the blockchain infrastructure but also diminishes investor and user confidence, ultimately risking the long-term viability of these platforms.