Interest in Bitcoin down to two-year low

Key Takeaways

• Google search data for Bitcoin is at a two-year low
• Search volume is close to the levels last seen before the crypto boom of 2021
• Despite rising prices in 2023, crypto industry continues to suffer from dwindling volumes 
• This trend is backed up when looking at liquidity and trade volume, which have also fallen drastically since the hysteria of the pandemic

We have covered the dropoff in crypto liquidity previously, while the freefalling prices of the 2022 bear market need no recap. However, despite a rebound prices thus far in 2023, general interest in crypto remains significantly down compared to the pandemic hysteria – and the trend does not appear to be slowing. 

This week, another milestone was hit conveying just how far the sector has fallen when assessing it on a macro scale. Looking at search interest for the term “Bitcoin” worldwide, volume is now at the lowest point since 2020.  

To recap, following three years in the abyss, the cryptocurrency sector surged in the latter half of 2020. This came after it weathered the initial storm in March 2020, when the COVID pandemic struck markets harshly, both within and outside of crypto. 

But it was Q1 of 2021 when the sector truly jumped onto the mainstream stage. Dinner conversation was alive with talk of mysterious Internet money, newspapers were talking about blockchain and everybody wanted in, as the price of one Bitcoin retook its previous highs from the 2017 bull market peak…and just kept going. 

While the above chart shows that search volume dropped off since that lofty Q1, as is natural, the scale of the slide since betrays the struggles of the industry. As prices plummeted throughout 2022, interest in the sector bled off. 

There were three notable exceptions, however, when we saw brief spikes in interest. May 2022, when the Terra ecosystem collapsed, was one. Then there was June 2022, when a slew of bankruptcies struck the space, highlighted by lending firm Celsius. And finally, interest jumped again in November 2022, when FTX imploded. 

Unfortunately, none of these episodes were positive, setting the stage for further decline in interest once the dust settled on the various scandals. And that is what has happened – right into 2023, even as prices have begun to rebound. 

US climate worsening for crypto

Focusing on the US, the financial…