Data from Google Trends suggests that interest in the Metaverse has fallen by 83% since its peak last year — with this downtrend showing no signs of recovery.
The Metaverse entered the mainstream in 2021 following the rise of cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). As crypto prices rallied to all-time highs and NFTs sold for millions of dollars, attention soon shifted to the Metaverse as the latest technology trend. Search queries related to the Metaverse peaked in October last year as the crypto markets started selling off alongside the wider global markets.
Bankless Times takes a deeper look at the data to see the extent to which “interest” in cryptocurrency, NFTs and the Metaverse has fallen.
Interest in “Cryptocurrency” Down 85% Since Peak In May 2021
According to data from Google Trends, search interest in “cryptocurrency” has dropped by 85% compared to the same period last year.
Crypto markets took a nosedive in May 2021 after China announced a ban on crypto mining conducted in the country.
This was a huge blow to crypto as a significant percentage of Bitcoin’s computational power (hashrate) was hosted in China at the time. This led to serious concerns about the future of the industry.
Faced with no other option, miners based in China began moving out to alternative countries like Russia and Kazakhstan, and the US reclaimed the top spot for the country with the largest share of hashrate.
Crypto prices recovered in the months that followed and led to new all-time highs later in the year. However, interest in the markets never fully recovered and has remained in a downtrend ever since.
The global markets have taken a major hit following the outbreak of war in Ukraine and other issues related to rising inflation and interest rate hikes. The markets may remain weak and volatile until there are positive developments in the war and efforts to combat inflation.
Search volume for “Metaverse” Plummets 83% Since Peak In May 2021
The Metaverse propelled into the mainstream after the social networking website, Facebook, rebranded to Meta in late October last year.
The move signaled the company’s interest in virtual reality worlds and showed its commitment to the nascent technology.
Search interest in the “Metaverse” peaked in the same week of the announcement and has remained in a downtrend ever since following widespread sell-offs in the global markets. Given the overlap between the two technologies, interest in the Metaverse has fallen alongside cryptocurrencies.
The cost of living crisis that is gripping the US and European countries has shifted attention away from speculative investments to more basic needs. Once these problems are resolved, markets may return back to previous exuberance.
At the time of writing, Google Trend data suggests interest in the “Metaverse” has fallen by 83%, just 2% less than “cryptocurrency”.
The NFT Bubble has Burst — Interest Down 82% in six Months
NFTs took the world by storm last year as popular NFT collections generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
One NFT, titled ‘Everydays: the First 5000 Days’ by digital artist Beeple caught the attention of mainstream media due to its 8-figure price tag. It sold for $69.3 million becoming the most expensive NFT ever sold and remains as such to this day.
Google searches for NFT peaked in January 2022, and have fallen by 82% in just five months.
This trend also falls in line with a larger macro decline in growth stocks and cryptos as supply chain disruptions and inflation render consumers to think twice about investing their money in assets.
Interest in “NFT” Has Plummeted but Remains Higher than “Cryptocurrency” and “Metaverse”
Interest in “NFT” seems to have declined by a lower percentage than the other terms, albeit by a small amount.
A comparison of the terms to see how they have performed in relation to each other (correlation) found the following:
Search queries peaked first for the “Metaverse” and was closely followed by “cryptocurrency” just a few days later. “NFT” however, peaked two months later in January 2022.
There was a brief period in December when interest in the Metaverse overtook that of cryptocurrency, however, cryptocurrency has remained a more popular search term since then.
NFT remains the most popular search item, followed by cryptocurrency and then Metaverse. Although, interest in each of these terms has declined by 82%, 92%, and 97% respectively.
