The latest developments in the cryptocurrency space have caught the attention of retail traders. Google trends data shows that the number of “cryptocurrency” searches has skyrocketed to new all-time high levels with queries varying from environmental issues to should investors sell.
Crypto Searches Through the Roof
Google trends’ Twitter highlighted the massive surge in online searches for “cryptocurrency” yesterday. The graph below demonstrates that the worldwide queries have dwarfed the 2017/2018 peak and are heading towards yet another all-time high.
Furthermore, the world’s largest search engine provided more details on various crypto-related queries made by users. The most significant increases came from “what happened to cryptocurrency today,” which recently saw an 850% uptick.
Interestingly, “should I sell my crypto” searches in the US alone skyrocketed by 400% in the past day. This came amid one of the largest market-wide crashes in which bitcoin fell by $10,000, and most alternative coins bled out even worse.
Additionally, people were highly interested in environmental issues. Google trends indicated that “most energy-efficient cryptocurrency” and “environmentally friendly cryptocurrency” became “breakout searches.”
Perhaps Elon Musk is to blame for this as Tesla’s CEO criticized BTC’s energy consumption levels as the EV-maker ceased receiving bitcoin payments for the same reason. In the past two weeks, environmental concerns are among the hottest topics inside and outside the crypto space.
Where’s This Demand Coming From?
As the first graph demonstrates, the previous massive surge of Google searches came in 2017/2018. As such, it would be safe to assume what’s the primary driving force behind the growing interest, and, somewhat unsurprisingly, it has a lot to do with prices.
Back in late 2017 and early 2018, bitcoin and the rest of the market were going through an impressive bull run. The primary cryptocurrency charted an all-time high around $20,000, ETH was over $1,400, and so on.
These parabolic increases caught the attention of mass media and, shortly after – retail investors. However, once the bubble burst and the crypto space went into a year-long bear market, the searches rapidly declined. No one really was talking about bitcoin at and below $5,000.
The trend reversed once again in late 2020 as the bulls took charge. Consecutive all-time highs came from Bitcoin, Ethereum, BINANCE Coin, Cardano, and many, many more. The entire market capitalization even surpassed that of the world’s largest company – Apple.
Once again, BTC was in the media, but other digital assets found a spot there as well. One thing has led to another, and retail investors are once again hot for the cryptocurrency industry.
