Google searches for the term “Bitcoin Halving” have reached a new all-time high, beating out the previous all-time high set in May 2020—when the previous halving occurred.
If Google Trends are any indication, then the upcoming Bitcoin halving has more attention on it than any halving before it.
The Bitcoin halving is an event, hardcoded in the Bitcoin protocol, that occurs roughly every four years. The upcoming halving, the fourth in Bitcoin’s history, is scheduled to happen later this week. And when it does, it will mean that the issuance of new Bitcoin will once again be slowed. Bitcoin miners, the individuals and groups who maintain and secure the network, will see their BTC rewards slashed in half.
Historically, the event has been viewed as bullish for Bitcoin traders and investors. After all, it could mean that the available supply of BTC will diminish at a time when speculators expect demand for the asset to increase.
Searches on Google for “Bitcoin halving” hit an all-time high last week, per Google Trends data, despite the entire crypto market falling over 30%.
Since then, “Bitcoin halving” has continued to increase in search frequency. Yesterday, it passed the cannabis culture meme number “420” as a search term for the first time in its history. This is particularly notable given that the halving is currently scheduled for April 20, the date every crypto degen loves—depending on where you live.
Trends data is just one of many signs that Bitcoin has started to enter the mainstream. The approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may have been a catalyst for this renewed public interest.
Based on Google Trends figures, “Bitcoin” as a search term has been trending sideways for the last 12 months—until the ETF approval. Following the launch of Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. market, searches for Bitcoin spiked. This was quickly followed by another spike in popularity as the bull run that followed the ETF approval hit headlines.
But “Bitcoin” as a search term itself is still far from its all-time high. That happened way back in December 2017, when the leading cryptocurrency went from $998 to a then all-time high just shy of $20,000, according to CoinGecko.
While Bitcoin may not be at peak popularity right now, the surge in people searching for “Bitcoin halving” suggests an increased desire to learn more about its inner workings. This is in line with other more specific terms like decentralized exchange, seed phrase, and consensus mechanism all hitting peak popularity in 2024.