As bitcoin’s value surged to $52,545 this week, the fascination with it appears subdued, with Google Trends indicating a low level of interest. Currently, global metrics from the last 90 days reveal the search term “bitcoin” holds a score of 36 out of 100, significantly less than when bitcoin first exceeded the $50K threshold nearly three years ago.
Is Retail In? Bitcoin Enthusiasm Wanes According to Google Trends
On Feb. 18, 2021, bitcoin’s price (BTC) broke the $50K barrier for the first time, sparking considerable excitement as evidenced by Google Trends data, where the search term “bitcoin” hit a high of 71 out of 100 that week, based on worldwide metrics. Despite bitcoin’s price once again climbing above $50K, the search term hasn’t captured as much attention as it previously did.
Over the past 90 days, “bitcoin” has only achieved a score of 36 out of 100, without experiencing a notable surge in interest since Jan. 11, 2024, coinciding with the introduction of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). On the day the ETFs debuted on Wall Street, the search term “bitcoin” reached a peak score of 100.
Google Trends employs a scoring metric from 0 to 100 to gauge the relative search popularity of a term. These scores are adjusted and scaled to reflect the topic’s share of searches across all subjects.
Currently, the score stands at 36, a decrease from the 40 out of 100 mark “bitcoin” achieved on Feb. 9, 2024. Additionally, Google Trends data is segmented by total searches within a given geography, with El Salvador currently leading in interest for the search term “bitcoin.”
Following closely behind El Salvador, the first country to adopt bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender, includes the countries Nigeria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Austria in terms of overall interest. The buzz around “bitcoin” continues to intertwine significantly with ETFs, drawing high-rated queries like “ibit,” “bitcoin etf ticker,” “bitcoin etf approval,” and “sec bitcoin etf.”
In 2021, Google Trends data highlighted Nigeria as the leading region by interest for that year, with other African countries like South Africa and Ghana also ranking highly. Notably, El Salvador and Nigeria have emerged as the frontrunners in enduring Google Trends interest, via lifetime records.
This diminishing curiosity in bitcoin, despite its high valuation, suggests a maturation of the cryptocurrency market or a shift in the public’s focus. While it’s evident that institutional investors have entered the scene, the retail crowd seems less engaged.
For bitcoin to recapture the attention of retail investors, it might need to soar to even greater heights. However, diving in at the peak of its value is often not considered the wisest move.
The consistent interest from nations like El Salvador and Nigeria hints at diverse global perspectives on digital currencies. As the landscape evolves, the relationship between market milestones and public interest may further diverge, reflecting more informed or selective attention toward cryptocurrency developments.