For the week ending on Christmas, global searches for the term “NFT,” which refers to nonfungible tokens, have surpassed “crypto,” according to Google Trends. The sharp increase in search traffic for NFTs offers a clear indication that digital collectibles have entered mainstream consciousness, with transactions on OpenSea, the most popular decentralized platform for NFT auctions and drops, surpassing $10 billion.
“NFT” versus “crypto” search trends.Source: Google Trends
The huge increase in demand for NFTs is evident across nearly all aspects of society. First, consumer brands such as Nike and Adidas are making their own entry into the realm of metaverse NFTs. Then, celebrities such as Snoop Dog, Grimes, Steve Aoki, Mila Kunis, and Melania Trump are promoting their own NFT collections to the public. Thirdly, NFT games such as Axie Infinity and Sorare make it possible for players to learn about crypto and NFTs, as well as earn a small amount of money as a side hustle while playing video games.
Related: Biggest NFT drops and sales in 2021
Moreover, the proceeds from NFT auctions could also go to nonprofits or charities, such as building a school for children in Uganda. Not only can crypto holders obtain fine pieces of art, but in the United States, they can also deduct their donations against their ordinary income to save on taxes, resulting in a win-win for all. Lastly, NFTs make it possible for artists worldwide to broadcast their talents without the need for physical exhibits. One such example is Mongol NFT, which brings tales of nomadic horse riders and the history of the steppes to the blockchain.
Shiba Inu (SHIB), a Dogecoin-inspired meme cryptocurrency, emerged as one of the best performers across traditional and crypto markets entering the new weekly session as its price climbed by over 30% week-to-date.
SHIB’s price reached $0.00005155 Tuesday after bouncing from its technical support near $0.00003560 at the beginning of this week. Its rebound signaled a shift in trend, especially after the last week’s broader market selloff, induced by concerns related to the new Covid19 strain, dubbed Omicron.
Bullish catalysts for Shiba Inu price
At the core of Shiba Inu’s upside retracement was Kraken, a U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange that announced Monday that it would effectively enable SHIB trading on its platform from Nov. 30. However, Kraken clarified that it would not offer SHIB futures and margin trading services.
New Listing on Kraken: @Shibtoken $SHIB deposits begin NOW! Trading is live November 30.
Additionally, at the beginning of this week, Shiba Inu received bullish cues from a broader recovery across the top digital assets, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). Bitcoin rallied by more than $3,000 from its Nov. 26 low near $53,500 — the day the Omicron variant caused turbulence across the traditional and crypto markets.
Correlation between SHIB/USDT and BTC/USD on a daily price chart. Source; TradingView
Meanwhile, Ether, which has a higher degree of positive correlation with Bitcoin, surged from nearly $3,900 to around $4,500 in the same period.
The market catalysts helped boost internet searches for the keyword “Shiba Inu,” data on Google Trends showed on a seven-day timeframe. That coincided with a spike in internet queries for the keyword “SHIB,” underscoring a recovering retail interest in the cryptocurrency this week.
‘SHIB’ interest searches recover. Source: Google Trends
SHIB price chart technicals
Shiba Inu’s latest rebound also activated a Bull Flag pattern that projects its price per token at around $0.00010000.
SHIB/USDT daily price chart featuring Bull Flag setup. Source: TradingView
In detail, the SHIB price broke above the Flag’s upper trendline, accompanied by a rise in intraday trading volumes. That typically prompts traders to shift their profit target to a level that is at length equal to the previous uptrend’s height.
Related: Supersize McShib: Shiba Inu the largest ERC-20 holding among ETH whales
Simultaneously, SHIB also confirmed breaking out of a Falling Wedge pattern, a bullish reversal indicator, as shown in the chart below.
The profit target of the Wedge pattern can be found at the length equal to the maximum distance between its upper and lower trendline — about $0.00003053 above the breakout point, i.e., around $0.00007500.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Statistics from Google search trends show a high level of interest in cryptocurrency from retail investors, with search interest reaching an all-time high (ATH) globally.
Retail Interest in Crypto Skyrockets
According to atweeton Wednesday (May 19, 2021), a graph showed that more people were searching for the word cryptocurrency, with search interest surpassing the peak reached in late 2017 and early 2018.
Meanwhile, different search queries as revealed by Google Trends saw a significant increase. Searches like “what happened to cryptocurrency yesterday” spiked over 850 percent globally. Also, there was a rising interest in bitcoin’s energy use, with “how does bitcoin use energy” on Google skyrocketing over 1000 percent.
There were also queries about energy-efficient and environmentally friendly crypto, which became “breakout searches” in the U.S. AsreportedbyBTCManagerearlier in May, Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, said that the electric vehicle manufacturer was suspending bitcoin payment for its vehicles.
Musk said that he was concerned about the high use of non-renewable energy used in bitcoin mining. However, bitcoin maximalists tried to debunk his claim. Meanwhile, the price of bitcoin dropped within a few minutes of the announcement.
The cryptocurrency market experienced a massive bloodbath in token prices over the past one week, losing over $800 billion within the period. Furthermore, the recent development in the crypto market has caused fear among retail investors.
Search interest for “should I sell my crypto” rose over 400 percent in the past day in the U.S. alone. Bitcoin dipped over 30 percent in the last eight days, with altcoins also suffering major losses. According to recentdata, Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index is at 11, indicating extreme fear. The cryptocurrency market, however, is beginning to recover, with bitcoin trading over $42,000.
Meanwhile, amid the current interest in crypto, critics like Paul Krugman, said that bitcoin was a cult that was going to be around for a long time. Krugman, a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2008, has always predicted BTC’s demise. But it seems the flagship crypto has refused to die, causing Krugman to give up,saying:
“But I’ve given up predicting imminent demise. There always seem to be a new crop of believers. Maybe just think of it as a cult that can survive indefinitely.”
Interest in non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, has surged to almost the level of searches for the term ‘ICO’ during the 2017 bull market mania, according to data from Google Trends. With eight days left in March, the current spike in interest could even surpass interest in ICOs back then, which would be an impressive feat indeed.
The Initial Coin Offering mania in 2017 was partly the cause, and partly the result, of the 2017 bull run that culminated in Bitcoin peaking just shy of $20,000.
Given NFTs span gaming, music, art, virtual land — and can even represent real world objects like houses — they potentially have a much larger audience than the predominately finance and tech people who were drawn to ICOs.
Search interest for NFT vs. ICO. Source:Google Trends
Search interest has no doubt been sparked by the mainstream media enthusiastically covering NFTs being sold for jaw dropping prices including a collage from digital artist Beeple selling at Christie’s for $69 million and music producer 3LAU selling his new album as NFTs for $11.7 million.
Snoop Dog, Lionel Richie, and Boy George
Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com has announced it will launch a new NFT marketplace featuring drops from Snoop Dog, Lionel Richie, and Boy George along with James Bond’s favorite Formula One team Aston Martin. The platform, which is due to open on March 26, will focus on “delivering unique content from popular artists, musicians, athletes, and sports.
Aston Martin’s Cognizant Formula One team will launch a series of moments on the platform, capitalizing on the success of sports memorabilia platforms including NBA Top Shot and Sorare. Managing Director of the team Jefferson Slack stated:
“The collection of NFTs we’re making available capture the very first moments of our return to F1 after more than six decades.”
The new Aston Martin team makes its F1 race debut in Bahrain, on 28 March
Do the robot
Art created by Gaka-Chu, an autonomous robot developed by the Robonomics team, is currently being auctioned on NFT marketplace Rarible. The robot has actually been creating art for more than three years now, but this is reportedly the first time work created by the robot has been sold as an NFT.
I’ve got the first bids and it’s 2 eth in total! This is absolutely fantastic! pic.twitter.com/d3unCUYZsF
— Gaka-Chu (@gaka_chu_art) March 23, 2021
The unique aspect is the fine art created by the robot is entirely self-managed, with the creation process recorded and included in the NFT. One piece, with a current bid of $1,674, features the robot drawing the Ethereum logo with the attached quote, “It would never happen without Ethereum. I can work, create and live my best life.”
3 Million GameTalkTalk users can soon mint ‘carbon neutral’ NFTs
Enjin has partnered with Ludena Protocol to integrate “eco-friendly NFTs” into Korea’s top social gaming app GameTalkTalk. The partnership will allow the app’s 3 million users to create their own NFTs for digital fashion, pets and real estate.
According to a release, Enjin’s multi-chain approach will reduce the impact of NFT minting on the environment (a hot button issue right now) through a number of technologies, including JumpNet, a gas-free scaling solution. The app also will showcase the technology to large gaming brands including Blizzard and SEGA.
$500,000 digital home on Mars
Mars House: Courtesy of Krista Kim
An NFT collector has paid $500,000 for a digital home in a Mars-like landscape. That’s more than most homes go for here in the physical world on Earth.
“Mars House” sold on Superrare earlier this week for 288 ETH. Krist Kim, the creator, dubbed it as the first true digital home, and it was designed in collaboration with an architect, using video game software.
In the Instagram post, Kim explained that the new owner could bring the home and furniture to life with the help of a team of glass furniture-makers based in Italy. Kim also has a strong vision that the art could be projected in a physical house.
“Everyone should install an LED wall in their house for NFT art.”
So in theory you could potentially show off your $500,000 NFT home on the wall of your $300,000 condo.
More people are posting tweets about “Bitcoin,” The Block Research data on Feb 21 shows.
Bitcoin Tweet Volume spikes in February
By mid-February 2021, there were 675k Bitcoin tweets, a 17.13 percent increment from a week before when the figure stood at 576k.
Simultaneously, there are even more people following the Twitter accounts of leading cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase and Binance. Even more now follow the accounts of on-chain data analytic platforms like The Block, Santiment, or CoinMetrics.
On-Chain Analytic Platforms and Exchanges Have More Twitter Followers
Although the number of followers to such portals remains high, it is below those of mid-January 2021, when it spiked to new all-time highs.
There is evidence suggesting that although interest is high and more people are eager to learn about Bitcoin, contributing to social media discussions, not many are joining cryptocurrency exchange.
Herein, they can commit to either convert their fiat to Bitcoin (or any other supported coin) or actively trade.
Interest Pales That of 2017 as per Google Trends
Even though there has been a near exponential rise in cryptocurrency prices, fewer people follow the Twitter accounts of exchanges than in early 2018.
Then, Bitcoin prices exceeded expectations, fleetingly rising to $19.9k. The main drivers were retailers flocking in droves to different Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) launching from smart contracting platforms like Ethereum and Waves.
Preceding the exponential expansion of Bitcoin prices, Google searches for the term Bitcoin rose to June 2019 levels in early December 2020.
It is around this time that BTC/USD prices were retesting 2017 highs. Interestingly, retail interest from Google Trends is significantly lower than the climactic searches of late 2017.
Bitcoin is a Trillion-Dollar Asset
Coinciding with this interest are erupting Bitcoin prices.
For the first time in history, Bitcoin became a trillion-dollar asset, eclipsing the valuation of megaliths like Tesla and quickly closing in on Silver’s market capitalization.
Rising Bitcoin price could also see the digital asset surpass Alphabet’s valuation and, soon, Gold. Bitcoin is considered a superior version of the yellow metal whose total supply is known and operating transparently in a public ledger.
As BTCManager reports, analysts project Bitcoin prices to rise even higher. Central banks continue with their debasement, and Bitcoin is a hedge against inflation.
Organic searches for the term “Bitcoin” are now around its all-time highs, a screengrab by Mati Greenspan, a licensed Portfolio Manager, on Dec 14 shows.
Google Trends Hints
As gleaned from Google Trends, a tool used to indicate retail interest in any topic reveals a growing interest in Bitcoin. BTC prices have more than doubled from one month ago since closing above $20k. These are peaked reached at the ICO-drive hysteria of Q4 2017.
The subsequent rally was primarily driven by institutional interest has seen the BTC/USD surge, blasting past important sell walls to peak at around $42k, roughly three weeks after breaking above $20k.
A Changing Crypto Landscape
Interestingly for observers, the rapid expansion of BTC prices is not anywhere close to the frenzy of December 2017. This, in their assessment, points to different drivers of the world’s most valuable digital asset.
Three years after the climactic rise, Bitcoin as a digital asset has been tempered by several factors, including regulations. Subsequently, with clarity and the expansion of crypto as a potential layer that can disrupt traditional processes, Bitcoin and the sub-sector have diverse investors.
Following MicroStrategy’s Lead
For instance, in the last five months, heavy investors have been following MicroStrategy’s lead, investing in the digital asset citing debasement of fiat and their hedge against inflation.
As BTCManager reported, Square, SkyBridge Capital, PayPal, and some regulated hedge funds are now flocking to Bitcoin. Additionally, family offices managing the wealth of different high net-worth investors are also seeking exposure through regulated crypto-centric facilitators like Grayscale Investment.
Grayscale is the dominant vehicle, preferred by accredited retail investors and institutions in the United States. Their Assets Under Manager (AUM) continue to expand amid the influx of Wall Street cash into the digital asset.
A Bitwise/ETF Trends 2021 Benchmark Survey reveals that 50 percent more financial institutions are now seeking cryptocurrencies as a hedge against inflation and high yield returns.
Part of the report read:
“This year’s survey saw a sharp uptick in advisors highlighting crypto’s ‘high potential returns’ and its role in ‘inflation hedging’ as key attractive features of the asset class.”
According to a BTCManager report, crypto holders expect further gains as Joe Biden’s administration prepares to expand the country’s fiscal policy.
