Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States saw collective inflows of $488.1 million on June 5, but Google data shows almost no one is searching for them compared to the bull market in 2021 – a bullish sign that retail hasn’t arrived yet.
ETFs recorded their second best day of entry with $886.6 million on June 4. The next day, it reached about half that figure, with the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) accounting for the largest share of inflows at $220.6 million, according to data from Farside Investors.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) took second place with $155.4 million, and even Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) – which has seen net outflows of over $17.8 billion since January – recorded a net inflow of $14.6 million.
Despite strong inflows and Bitcoin rising above $71,000, Google Trends data shows that, compared to 2021, virtually no Americans are conducting searches related to Bitcoin, Bitcoin ETFs, its price or to cryptocurrencies in general.
Google Trends data, which gives a value out of 100 based on the relative peak popularity of search interests, gave a score of 31 for searches for “Bitcoin” from the United States on June 5, while “Bitcoin ETF” received a score of 1. .
Other searches, such as “bitcoin price” and “crypto” received a higher index score of 18 and 13 respectively, but are still well below scores during the retail-led bull run in 2021.
Interest in cryptocurrency-related search declined throughout the year, with a widespread increase on January 11 – the day the United States approved ten Bitcoin ETFs – and March 5 when Bitcoin surpassed $69,000 for the first time since 2021.
about: Bitcoin ETFs represent 26% of BlackRock’s 2024 flows, 56% of Fidelity’s flows.
Search interest in “Bitcoin” peaked in May 2021. A few weeks ago, it surpassed $50,000 for the first time, and later hit a long-time all-time high of around $69,000 in November 2021.
Cryptocurrency analyst Miles Deutscher, in a June 6 article, also shared data showing that viewership of cryptocurrency-related YouTube channels has declined significantly since 2021, even though Bitcoin had already passed its peak of price at the time.
In 2021, when Bitcoin reached its peak, the cryptocurrency’s audience on YouTube was around 4 million views per day, which fell to around 800,000 views per day in 2024, although Bitcoin reached new heights.
“Retail is not back yet,” Deutscher said. “No indicator in the world sums up the current market situation better than views on cryptocurrencies (YouTube).”
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