Bitcoin’s mass adoption is still a dream, reveals data

The mass adoption of bitcoin or cryptocurrencies is yet to be achieved, according to several metrics tracked by The Block Research.

Google searches for “bitcoin,” the number of new Twitter followers of crypto exchanges, Wikipedia views of the page “bitcoin,” and bitcoin/USD trade volumes — all the four metrics are nowhere close to their 2017 figures when bitcoin hit a record high of $20,000 in mid-December.

Google searches for bitcoin, for instance, peaked during December 17 week of 2017. This year so far, people have searched for bitcoin eight times less as compared to the peak week.

Source: The Block Research, Google Trends

The number of new Twitter followers of crypto exchanges, such as Binance and Coinbase, has also grown at a slower pace since the bull run of 2017. In January 2018, exchanges added nearly 254,000 new Twitter followers, while the average addition in 2020 so far has been 5,340 — i.e., about 50 times lesser growth than the peak period.

Similarly, Wikipedia views of the page “bitcoin” are 31 times lower than the peak week of December 3, 2017. As for BTC/USD trade volumes, it peaked during the week of December 17, 2017, at nearly $17 billion. While the average weekly trade volumes in 2020 year-to-date have been $2.5 billion — i.e., almost seven times lesser than the peak period. 

Overall, these metrics reveal that there are fewer market participants in the crypto market today as compared to December 2017. However, as The Block’s Larry Cermak notes, the crypto market structure has matured drastically in the last two years and has become more institutionalized. It means when another rally takes place, the market will be much more ready.

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© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.