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With a score of 17 out of 100, online interest in crypto has taken a big hit from its highest levels reached in May 2021.

A two-month-long lull in cryptocurrency optimism has seen online search interest for “crypto” and other common cryptocurrency terms stumble down to late 2020 levels.

According to data from Google Trends, the term “crypto” currently has a score of 17, which is well off its reference point of 100 in May 2021. Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum have followed a similar downward trajectory.

However, search interest for these terms has been in a relatively consistent decline since May 2022, about a month after much of the Terra Luna ecosystem collapsed. A small spike in interest came in early November when the crypto exchange FTX collapsed.

The fall in interest comes as Bitcoin has held steady at around $28,000 for 10 weeks now — price action that Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz recently described as “lackadaisical” and caused by a lack of “institutional excitement right now.”

Guy Turner, commonly known as “Coin Bureau Guy,” suggested in a June 4 Twitter post that the fall in interest also coincides with lower trading volumes on exchanges, which he claims to have reached a 32-month low last month:

"Crypto" search trends are at the lowest point they have been since December 2020.

This also corresponds to exchange volumes which were at 32 month lows this past May.

Apathy? pic.twitter.com/UPOmhNGeDN

— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) June 4, 2023

Alternative’s Crypto Fear & Greed Index tells a similar story too, with market sentiment hovering around its current score of 53 — in the “Neutral” zone — for nearly a month now.

Interest hasn’t dipped in every domain of crypto though.

Search volumes for “decentralized finance” and “defi” have managed to increase in 2023, while searches for “memecoin” reached a peak in early May.

Related: Institutions ‘extremely interested’ in crypto ETFs, but buying has cooled: Survey

Nigeria currently holds the highest score for most crypto-related searches, while many of the lowest scores come from South American countries.

On the other hand, search interest for artificial intelligence continues to skyrocket, which many believe is the latest “tech fad.”

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