Is interest surging in Bitcoin as global markets struggle to deal with coronavirus, or are people lining up to watch the crypto market burn?
The Bitcoin market price tumbled along with global markets last week—and this week hasn’t fared much better—but people are more interested in Bitcoin than they have been in months. According to Google trends, searches for “Bitcoin” are through the roof.
From March 8 to March 14—the week Bitcoin’s price was cut in half as stock markets suffered their worst crash in over 30 years—Google Trends indicates an uptick of Bitcoin interest of around 90% compared with the previous week.
In the US, interest in Bitcoin rose significantly. On Friday, the number of searches for “Bitcoin” in the US—on the worst day for Bitcoin in over a year—more than tripled overnight.
Google Trends data from the past five years suggests that interest in Bitcoin hasn’t been this high since the end of June 2019, the peak of Bitcoin’s bull run last year. That was eclipsed by search volume at the end of 2017, when Bitcoin went viral around the world. Current search volume for “Bitcoin” is just a fifth of such highs.
This is the first time in a while I’ve felt like buying bitcoin. That drop was too much panic and too little reason.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) March 13, 2020
Looking at Google Trends data for similar search terms paints a different picture. Interest in the wider topic of cryptocurrency hasn’t significantly increased in the last few weeks.
Despite all the talk of “blockchain, not Bitcoin,” search volume for “blockchain” has gradually declined over the last 12 months. The price of Bitcoin may have halved but it’s the only technology that seems to be attracting widespread attention. Although, not always for the right reasons.
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