Considering Bitcoin fell by nearly 50 percent during a single day in March, it may be easy to assume that interest in the cryptocurrency market is low; this would make sense, for a multi-billion-dollar asset to lose half of its value within a day would normally send consumers running for the hills.
But interestingly, data shows that demand for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is truly on the rise.
Demand for Bitcoin & crypto assets is exploding
Data shared by Yassine Elmandjra — a crypto-asset analyst at tech investment fund and research firm ARK Invest — shows that the “relative Google search interest” for the term “Bitcoin” is approaching all-time highs (first established at the peak of the 2017-2018 bubble) in “several emerging markets”: Peru, Guatemala, Zambia, Uruguay, Kenya, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso.
What’s interesting is that the strong surge in interest in the leading cryptocurrency has transpired over the past week or two, Elmandjra’s chart indicates, counteracting the sentiment that March’s crash deterred investors.
The relative Google search interest for Bitcoin is approaching all time highs in several emerging markets.
Burkina Faso, which saw zero Bitcoin interest in late 2017, has seen an explosive rise this month. pic.twitter.com/HeUEiN1rWn
— Yassine Elmandjra (@yassineARK) April 1, 2020
It appears the growing demand for Bitcoin and crypto is translating to the rest of the world, too.
As reported by CryptoSlate previously, Qiao Wang found that Coinbase Pro’s BTC order book shows that there are six times more buy orders than sell orders (-/+ $6,000 on each side). Furthermore, this outlet has detailed a trend of stablecoin issuers minting literally hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency over recent weeks.
Related: Bitcoin just hit $7,000: 3 factors that could be behind this explosive move
But what’s causing this trend, which is antithetical to the reflexivity of the crypto market, which states that lower prices should beget less interest in this asset class.
What’s causing this trend?
No one, unfortunately, has a concrete answer.
But, there have been a number of trends that are seemingly making the fundamental case for investing in Bitcoin and crypto-assets as a whole.
Funnily enough, the two trends are the same that my grandfather — no joke — quoted to me when he rung me up last weekend asking how he could purchase some Bitcoin as an investment:
- Central banks and printing money like there is no tomorrow: In a bid to prevent societal turmoil and an economic depression resulting from the coronavirus outbreak, central banks and governments have begun to enact emergency measures, handing out free money to consumers, cutting interest rates to promote spending, and injecting trillions of dollars worth of liquidity into the bond markets to keep the economy running.
- Bitcoin’s halving is nearing: In just over a month from today, the number of BTC mined each day will get cut in half due to the so-called “halving.” This will make the cryptocurrency more scarce than gold and fiat, assuming a 2 percent annual inflation rate and a 2 percent annual growth of the physical stock of gold.
Anthony Pompliano, a co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital, dubbed these two trends “rocket fuel” for Bitcoin, referencing how these factors will work in tandem to increase the demand for the crypto in a time when the scarcity of it increases, creating a supply-demand dynamic that greatly favors price appreciation.
So with the fundamentals narratives surrounding crypto-investment only growing in potency and popularity, it makes sense why the demand for this asset class is growing.
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