Google searches have always been a good metric for the interest of the general public in a particular topic. Bitcoin used to be something that a lot of people were interested in, especially in 2017.
This was pretty noticeable when the world’s most popular cryptocurrency reached a stunning high of $19,000 towards the end of last year.
A lot of people wanted to get in on the action and Google searches started to skyrocket.
Bitcoin has not had a great run in 2018 as the cryptocurrency has dropped rather significantly and is currently hovering around the $7,600 mark. This drop in prices could be one of the main reasons why users are no longer using Google to search for bitcoin as interest levels have dropped. According to recent reports, the search for “bitcoin” on Google has dropped by 75 percent.
A 75 percent drop in Google search stats is a significant decline but it’s still not too bad as bitcoin Google searches are still outperforming searches for popular icons such as R&B Diva Beyonce and Donald Trump, President of the United States. However, the drop is still troubling as bitcoin was Google’s most popular search term in 2017.
In a statement, Nicholas Colas, the co-founder of DataTrek Research, said
We use Google Trends to track search queries for ‘Bitcoin’ as a proxy for potential new buyers. Bitcoin needs a new narrative in order to reestablish global attention
Cryptocurrency Wallet Growth Also Drops
Search interest on Google Trends is done by assigning a number value. This value represents how much interest there is in that topic for a particular region and time. 100 is the highest value possible and indicates peak popularity. Back in January 1, bitcoin’s popularity was at 37. At the start of June, this number has dropped to 9.
This is not the only metric by which interest in bitcoin is being measured. DataTrek Research also took a look at cryptocurrency wallet growth. In April and May, there was a notable 2 percent growth in wallet numbers. The compounded monthly growth for the first quarter of 2018 was pegged at 3.7 percent. This is a noticeable drop from wallet growth in the last quarter of 2017, which was pegged at 7.6 percent.
Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency to see a loss of interest. Ethereum one of bitcoin’s biggest rivals has seen a 70 percent drop in the Google search ranks while Ripple, another popular cryptocurrency has experienced an 87 percent drop.
