Google trend data shows that the google search interest of NFTs has reached the maximum threshold of “interest over time” in the closing weeks of January in 2022.
Source: Google Trends
NFT Heating Up Amid Downward Crypto Market
Despite a continuous slump in the crypto market price, Google search volume in January shows that NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are gaining increasing interest from people across the world.
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is one of the most popular PFP (Profile Picture) collections in the world and ranks in the top two most traded NFT collections on OpenSea, a well-known NFT marketplace. At the year-end of 2021, the legendary rapper Eminem purchased an ape and changed his Twitter profile to it, which skyrocketed the price of the Ethereum-based Bored Apes and triggered a new round of FOMO. Britney Spears allegedly bought one too around the same time. Coincidentally, Jay Chou, one of the most influential Chinese singers, also launched his first NFT collections on Jan 1st. News of these celebrities may have led to the surging search volume of non-fungible tokens as traffic has evidently increased since then.
A Turning Point in the Bear Market?
Those who are not fans of the celebrities might be simply attracted by the concept of NFTs. Interested searchers may want to know the use cases and adoption scenarios of NFTs. Apart from art collections of PFPs, NFTs are widely adopted in the game industry nowadays and the use cases continue increasing.
Accompanied with rising search volume, the NFT sector is growing steadily despite the crypto market turning bearish. Bitcoin, the biggest crypto in the world, dropped significantly since it hit its ATH of more than $92,000 AUD last November, while ETH, where most NFT trades are based, is witnessing a third monthly closing at loss. Some believe that the heated NFT market may turn the continuous plummet of the crypto market into a renewed bull run, which is highly unlikely as the crypto market is more aligned with the global macroeconomic environment than a microeconomic phenomenon like NFT trading.
That being said, NFTs are expected to perform well, independent from the general crypto market. As a matter of fact, the dropping price of crypto may help to attract more people to the market and to invest in NFTs, but only time will tell. At least the rising interest in NFTs lets crypto enthusiasts know that not all sectors of the crypto market are being crushed.