Latin America’s developer community is increasingly focused on building within established blockchain ecosystems like Ethereum and Polygon rather than launching new base-layer protocols, according to a report by consultancy firm Sherlock Communications.
The study, which included qualitative inputs from 85 developers in Bolivia, Mexico, Brazil and Peru, showed that the region’s builders care about transparency, coordination and compliance. The devs favor intuitive tools, strong documentation and proven track records, making networks like Ethereum and Polygon a good fit.
Luiz Eduardo Abreu Hadad, blockchain consultant and researcher at Sherlock Communications, told Cointelegraph that Latin American devs stand out because they show “strong technical maturity” and focus on real-world issues.
“Latin America has a growing, increasingly skilled developer community,” Hadad told Cointelegraph. However, while the devs are capable of creating new platforms, he said that the “current reality” is that the region will be a hub for development and adoption within already established ecosystems.
Ethereum recorded 75% of wallet transactions in Latin America
The report’s onchain data analysis supported the trend. After analyzing 697,000 blockchain transactions tagged to wallets identified as being in Latin America, the researchers found that Ethereum accounted for more than 75% of tagged transactions in the region between June 2024 and June 2025.
Meanwhile, Polygon represented 11% of the total activity over the same period. Polygon continues to see adoption in the region, with the network nearly doubling its activity to 20% in June 2025.
Despite being drawn to established ecosystems, Hadad told Cointelegraph that there are local initiatives with global potential.
He said that tokenization projects and national blockchain infrastructures like Núclea Chain and RBB in Brazil indicate that the region also has the capacity to create new ecosystems.
Related: Brazil’s largest asset manager Itaú Asset forms dedicated crypto unit
Next generation of devs to focus on DApps, RWAs
When asked about what the next generation of Latin American developers, like students or hackathon entrants, are positioning themselves for in the coming years, Hadad pointed to decentralized applications (DApps) and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.
He said that newer devs are interested in DApps that can reshape social media or the creator economy. Hadad also said that supply chain traceability, DePIN and RWAs captured the interest of the next generation of developers.
“They look for stable ecosystems, intuitive tools, and sustainable economic incentives, focusing on solving real problems around trust, transparency, and usability,” Hadad told Cointelegraph.
Magazine: Meet the Ethereum and Polkadot co-founder who wasn’t in Time Magazine
