The year 2022 will be remembered by many as a difficult year fraught with geopolitical problems, an increase in the Federal Reserve rate, a collapse of the cryptocurrency market and general economic difficulties. Compared to the pandemic that made us stay home, it was a much harder time. To exacerbate the difficulties, the crypto industry faced new shocks, such as the collapse of FTX.
Against the background of these events, it may seem that investors and traders are avoiding cryptocurrencies, but it is not. This article presents several digital currencies that gained the most number of search queries of Internet users in 2022.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin remains the most popular cryptocurrency: according to DollarGeek, it accounts for almost 30 million online requests. This is not surprising, considering that many newcomers to the market are looking for guidance on how to buy BTC before exploring exchanges and trading platforms. Retail investors are particularly attracted to Bitcoin, they are investing in the long term, despite the recent 65% drop in its value and the forecasts of some analysts about a further fall to $10,000. Market history suggests that growth will return, motivating buyers to look for information about digital gold purchases rather than sales.
Dogecoin
Genius billionaire and hero without cloak Elon Musk prefers a unique coin – Dogecoin. Amazingly, Musk managed to raise the value of this meme coin with just one tweet. Initially, many regarded Dogecoin as a fleeting joke, but Musk’s intervention proved otherwise. It successfully attracted wide attention to the coin and sparked debate about its rapid growth among the leading cryptocurrencies.
However, we cannot fully attribute to Musk the merit in the influx of popularity of this meme coin. Robinhood also played a role in the rise in popularity of DOGE when it became available on the platform.
Dogecoin’s resurgence coincided with Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. DollarGeek observers may have noticed that DOGE is starting to generate a new wave of interest.
Shiba Inu
Shiba Inu, once called Dogecoin’s main enemy, is another cryptocurrency worth mentioning.
In 2022, users searched for meme-coin online more than 4 million times. Despite the waning hype surrounding it, SHIB is still attracting attention. Although its value is lower than that of Dogecoin, it has managed to outpace its competitor in terms of searches.
The surge of interest can be attributed to the news that Shiba Inu was scheduled to be integrated into various meta universes last year.
Ethereum
Despite the fact that Ethereum is the main competitor of Bitcoin and ranks second in the market capitalization, the coin was searched on the Internet much less often. Therefore, it takes fourth place in the ranking of requests.
Experts suggest that the decline in interest is due to the Merge that took place last year, and Ethereum’s transition from the Proof of Work consensus mechanism to the Proof of Stake mechanism. The highest number of requests was observed when the Merge occurred. However, it is important to note that many users were not searching specifically for Ethereum, but using other terms such as Ethereum 2.0, The Merge, etc.
Conclusion
Despite a significant drop in the cryptocurrency market last year, retail investors have continued to engage in digital assets. Traders and investors are still searching for interesting coins online for their crypto portfolios.
