People are Using Google to Learn More About NFTs

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) gained popularity all over the world. Based on the information taken from Google’s keyword search data, interest in NFTs surged to record levels. 

Interest in nonfungible tokens saw a dramatic spike at the start of 2021 as Dapper Labs’ NBA Top Shot and vintage Ethereum-based Non-fungible tokens saw frenzied speculation according to Google trends.

The bubble originally appeared short-lived – with search volume drying up by roughly 75% as of the end of June. Nonetheless, interest began to bounce back in July before breaking into new highs at the end of October. 

Since October, Google’s search traffic for NFT-related keywords continued to surge, doubling over the past three months. NFTs even surpassed crypto-related search traffic, including “DeFi,” “Ethereum” and even “blockchain.”

During the second quarter of the year, Dogecoin firmly captured the public’s imagination, with search volume for “Dogecoin” rising to rival “Bitcoin” in early May. Either fortunately or unfortunately, the dog-token fever quickly subsided in the third quarter. Therefore, the Google Trends data suggests the momentum behind Dogecoin was immediately channeled into the hype for NFTs. 

Google, Asia, and NFTs 

People in China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines are using Google to learn more about NFTs. Apart from the countries mentioned earlier, people in Uganda are also actively looking for information regarding nonfungible tokens. 

This year, China’s search volume for ‘NFT’ peaked between September 5 to 11. One month earlier, the tech giant Tencent launched its NFT trading platform Huanhe. Another tech giant Alibaba launched a new Non-Fungible tokens marketplace allowing trademark holders to sell tokenized licenses to their intellectual property. Users can access this marketplace via Alibaba’s Auction platform. 

Tech giants are ready to embrace NFTs, but the situation is more complicated when it comes to the country’s government. In September, the government released a series of statements denouncing the value of the nonfungible token. The Securities Times is a news publication service. It is part of the Chinese Communist Party’s official outlet People’s Daily.  

The Securities Times was the first media outlet to release the information about government’s position regarding NFTs. Importantly, the remarks claimed that it is common sense that there is a huge bubble in NFT transactions.

The government of China also delivered a crushing blow to crypto mining operations earlier this year.