Article Source: Jinse Finance
Author: Stacy Muur, Web3 Researcher
Translation: xiaozou, Jinse Finance
The second decade of Bitcoin is halfway through, and the 20th anniversary is not far away. During this period, the crypto world has undergone unpredictable changes influenced by market sentiment, political strategies, and the alternating cycles of bull and bear markets.
Despite these fluctuations, new users continue to enter the crypto world through various channels. What are the most popular? Let’s explore the answers in this article.
1. Common Keywords
To better understand the changes in user interest, I analyzed Google Trends over the past five years. This period covered both bull and bear market cycles, providing an objective perspective.
People frequently search for general concepts such as 'crypto', 'blockchain', and 'token'. Unsurprisingly, the search volume for these keywords is directly proportional to market upswings.
However, these searches do not reveal intent. To better understand user interest, it is helpful to look closely at intent-based searches.
Historically, the primary uses of cryptocurrency are trading, investing, and speculation. Closely following are airdrops, but they do not match the heat of recently frequently searched keywords like 'trade' and 'invest'. Nevertheless, passive income remains a topic of interest for users well-versed in cryptocurrency.
2. Trading-Related Queries
Since we are discussing trading, let’s take it a step further and delve into user brand awareness and key entry paths.
User interest in CEX (centralized exchanges) and DEX (decentralized exchanges) topics reflects that CEX trading volume dominates DEX trading volume. Despite differing opinions, DeFi remains a small part of the broader crypto market, where centralized exchanges like Binance should not be underestimated.
Key Observations:
The popularity of CEX peaked in late December 2019 and hit a low in mid-March 2021.
Binance has consistently led in search interest among top centralized exchanges in 2024.
The focus on DEX hit a low in the summer of 2021 but reached an all-time high by the end of November 2024. This may have been driven by a new round of bull markets for Bitcoin and a surge in meme coin activity on Solana DEXs.
Among the leading DEXs by TVL, PancakeSwap dominated search interest in May 2021. By December 2024, Uniswap was in the lead, followed by Raydium.
The popularity of crypto derivatives peaked in 2021, but recently protocols like Hyperliquid have reignited interest compared to Drift Protocol and Jupiter.
Fueled by discussions related to Trump on Polymarket, the prediction market soared in November 2024. However, the heat quickly declined, reflecting a trend similar to that of November 2020.
3. Token Search Dynamics
The search interest for the term “crypto” is only comparable to that of “Bitcoin,” which is the main query for crypto-related topics.
The search interest for Bitcoin peaked during the bull market of 2021 and hit a low point at the end of 2019. Even after Bitcoin first reached the price of $100,000 at the end of 2024, it has not managed to regain its former popularity.
Meanwhile, the query frequency for other top market cap tokens, including Ethereum, remains relatively stable, although XRP has seen a significant increase following its recent rebound.
4. Narrative Hotness
When comparing user interest across major verticals (such as DeFi, RWA, DePIN, GameFi, and the recently popular AI x Crypto), user interest in the top two areas is sustainable. In contrast, other areas are more reliant on hype.
Recently, there has been a surge in interest in the fields of RWA and AI x Crypto, while DePIN, DeFi, and GameFi remain secondary.
The popularity of meme coins skyrocketed to unprecedented levels by the end of 2024. Meanwhile, AI-related tokens are gaining attention, with March 2024 being a key moment.
5. 2024 Keywords
Now we have a rough understanding of current interests in Web3 and the main attention projects. Next, I will share the most popular search queries in the crypto space right now (sorted by search volume).
Bitcoin - the invincible attention magnet
Ethereum
DEX
CEX
L1 and L2 - a close match
DeFi
Altcoin
RWA
AI Agent
Memecoin
DePIN
NFT
GameFi
Metaverse
Below are the rankings of the largest Web3 brands:
Bitcoin
XRP
TON
Binance
Ethereum
Solana
USDT
TRON
Bybit
Metamask
OKX
Searches for all other brands, including those frequently discussed on Crypto Twitter, such as Vitruals, Ethena, or any L2 chain, lag far behind the brands mentioned above.
What can we see?
Most topics discussed on Crypto Twitter do not reach a global audience. Retail investors still join the crypto world through centralized exchanges, while DeFi only captures a small portion of crypto interest. Many of today's hot brands remain beyond the reach of retail investors.
