Bitcoin Sentiment Hits Four-Year Low as 'Going to Zero' Searches Surge

Google Trends data shows that searches for 'Bitcoin going to zero' and 'Is Bitcoin dead?' have reached four-year highs, mirroring the FTX crisis in November 2022. At that time, Bitcoin plummeted to $15,000 after a major exchange froze customer withdrawals.

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index hit an all-time low of 5 last week, indicating extreme fear in the market. The index measures sentiment using price volatility and social media activity, with higher scores reflecting trader optimism and rising prices.

Crypto intelligence firm Perception tracked narrative data across over 650 sources and identified Bloomberg analyst Mike McGlone as the main driving force behind the 'Bitcoin to zero' narrative. McGlone has repeatedly predicted a market crash similar to 2008, which Nikolic of Perception believes has contributed to the spike in Google searches.

Interestingly, institutional behavior does not follow the retail fear pattern. Sovereign wealth funds like Abu Dhabi's have added to their Bitcoin ETF positions, and Strategy continues to accumulate the asset with $47 billion in holdings. Co-founder Michael Saylor said they plan to buy Bitcoin 'every quarter, forever,' as he doesn't believe it's heading to zero.