“Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research, pegged waning searches as a bad sign for prices,
reports CNBC. “Colas also uses wallet growth as a proxy for interest, and said even small demand is a determinant for bitcoin prices. Wallets store the public and private keys which can be used to trade, or receive cryptocurrencies.”
Related: Why Bitcoin Technicals are Getting Ugly
Wallet growth has been tepid this year compared to 2017 when bitcoin prices were surging. There is significant room for growth in the cryptocurrency universe. Recent data suggest a small amount of American investors own any digital currencies and, after bitcoin, the numbers of crypto ownership dwindle.
“Google searches for most other top cryptocurrencies has also cratered. For ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency, searches are down 70 percent this year. XRP searches have fallen even more sharply, down 87 percent since January 1. Searches for the fourth largest digital currency, bitcoin cash are down 82 percent,” according to CNBC.
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