Bitcoin Analyst Flags Lasting Damage to Public Perception
Bitcoin analyst Benjamin Cowen has pointed out that social interest in cryptocurrency hasn't returned as expected, and he believes it may not recover as previous bear markets have. In a recent video analyzing Bitcoin's (BTC) bull-versus-bear case, Cowen noted persistently low Google Trends and Wikipedia search activity as one of the more troubling signals for bulls.
Cowen uses a framework that tallies bullish and bearish signals across on-chain, technical, and sentiment data to gauge whether Bitcoin's cycle low has already formed. According to him, social interest has been falling even though prior bear markets bottomed alongside a rebound in search and app-store activity.
Cowen suggests that the pattern could reflect lasting damage to how the public views the space, citing gold as an example. He points out that gold's social interest was similarly depressed in the early 2010s before a multiyear bull run. He also mentions thematic exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which historically underperform for years after launch.