A new study has found that, in light of recent crypto crashes, scepticism of digital currency is on the rise while interest in investment is declining.
The report by data intelligence platform Similarweb has found that terms such as ‘is crypto a scam?’ and ‘crypto is a scam’ generated 353% more search volume than searches such as ‘how do I invest in crypto?’ and ‘cryptocurrency investing’.
The data also shows that not only are negative searches surrounding crypto far outweighing positive searches, but that positive searches are also in decline. Between April and May, searches for ‘investing in crypto’ dropped by 28.9%.
The market was sent into a nosedive by the collapse of the Terra ecosystem and stablecoin and is now widely acknowledged to be in a bearish phase.
The majority of traffic (96%) driven by the ‘investing’ topic was organic, which was true of virtually all of the ‘scam’ oriented search traffic.
Organic traffic winners on the ‘scam’ front were media sites like foxnews.com (32.5%), techradar.com (28%), nytimes.com (14%), globalnews.ca (9%) and time.com (5.5%). Each offers news of specific scams and advice on avoiding them.
In a related report, it was found that Celsius Network, the borrower and lender of cryptocurrency that recently announced a halt to customer withdrawals citing ‘extreme market conditions’, was among the top four companies buying paid search traffic within the past three months.
David Carr, author of the report and senior insights manager at Similarweb, said: “Does the more sceptical turn in search interest mean that crypto is over and done with? Of course not – but it does represent a rise in sceptical sentiment.
“Just as the DotCom boom and bust at the end of the 1990s cleared the decks of pretenders and made room for the rise of Amazon, Google, and other global network offerings that figured out how to offer real value on top of an internet domain, the survivors of the crypto crash could ultimately prove that the potential of cryptocurrency was real all along.”
Cryptocurrency shorts
Blockchain FinTech PolySign has raised $53 million in a Series C funding round featuring Cowen Digital, Brevan Howard and GSR, and has also secured a $25m credit facility from private equity firm Boathouse Capital. It provides infrastructure for investors through its subsidiary Standard Custody & Trust Company, as well as fund administration via recently-acquired MG Stover.
CEO Whit Gibbs and CFO Jodie Fisher have resigned from Bitcoin mining, hosting and brokerage services firm Compass Mining following ‘multiple setbacks and disappointments’. CTO Paul Gosker and chief mining officer Thomas Heller have been installed as interim co-presidents and CEOs while permanent replacements are found.
Linera, a layer 1 blockchain project looking to ‘bring Web2 scalability to Web3’, has raised $6m in seed funding from a16z, Cygni Capital, Kima Ventures and Tribe Capital.
Chris Giancarlo, the former chief of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has been knighted by the French Government. Author of the book ‘CryptoDad: The Fight for the Future of Money’, was recognised by French President Emmanuel Macron for embracing crypto finance.
Axie Infinity’s Ronin bridge has been restarted three months after $625m worth of cryptocurrencies were stolen from the protocol. It has undergone an internal audit and external audits by blockchain security firms Verichains and Certik.
Crypto prices
The overall market cap of the more than 20,000 coins is at $902.6 billion at the time of writing (7am UK), a 3.2% decrease in the last 24 hours.
Market leader Bitcoin – the original cryptocurrency created by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – lost 3% to around $20,165. BTC is 1% down in a week.
Ethereum, the second most valuable crypto coin – created as a decentralised network for smart contracts on the blockchain – shed 4% to around $1,135. ETH is 3% up over the course of a week.
Binance Coin is a cryptocurrency created by popular crypto exchange Binance to assist its aim in becoming the infrastructure services provider for the entire blockchain ecosystem. Its BNB token lost 6% to $221, leaving it 2% up over seven days.
Cardano is an open source network facilitating dApps which considers itself to be an updated version of Ethereum. Its ADA token, designed to allow owners to participate in the operation of the network, fell 3% to 47 cents and is more or less where it was a week ago.
The XRP token of Ripple, a payment settlement asset exchange and remittance system, acts as a bridge for transfers between other currencies. XRP shed 3% to 33.5c but its price is 3% up on seven days ago. It has fallen back below Cardano in the valuation table by market cap.
Solana is a blockchain built to make decentralised finance accessible on a larger scale – and capable of processing 50,000 transactions per second. Its SOL token lost 7% to $35.03 yet is 1% up compared with its price a week ago.
Meme coin DOGE was created as a satire on the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies but is now a major player in the space. DOGE shed 7% to 6.6c, leaving it 3% up in a week.
Polkadot was founded by the Swiss-based Web3 Foundation as an open-source project to develop a decentralised web. Its DOT token, which aims to securely connect blockchains, lost 6% to $7.20 and is 5% down on its price a week ago.
Avalanche is a lightning-quick verifiable platform for institutions, enterprises and governments. Its AVAX token lost 5% to $18.30 yet is 11% up in a week.
To see how the valuations of the main coins have changed in recent times – and for round-ups of recent cryptocurrency news developments – click here.
For valuations of the top 100 coins by market cap in US dollars, plus 24-hour price change, see below.