Over the past 12 months, El Salvador has clearly topped the list of countries where the word “Bitcoin” is most often searched on Google.
El Salvador, Nigeria and Turkey lead Google searches for Bitcoin
Google Trends reveals that the small Central American state has more than twice as many searches as the more populous African state of Nigeria.
Nigeria is the seventh most populous state in the world, with over 210 million inhabitants, and yet it is only in second place behind tiny El Salvador, which with only 3% of its population does more than twice as many searches.
It is also worth noting that Turkey (85 million inhabitants) has risen to fourth place in this ranking, most likely due to the huge devaluation of its currency, the Lira.
BTC searches peak in El Salvador
Analysing the data of Google searches for the word Bitcoin in El Salvador over the last 12 months, it turns out that the highest peak was in the week between 6 and 12 June 2021, when it was revealed that Bitcoin would become legal tender in the country.
A second peak occurred in the week between 5 and 11 September, when Bitcoin actually became legal tender in El Salvador.
Since then, the volume of searches has remained very high, showing that this was not just hype.
The first peak reveals that the majority of Salvadorans most likely did not even know what Bitcoin was before President Bukele announced the initiative to make it legal tender in the country, while the second one suggests that in practice many people started looking for information to learn how to use it.
In fact, comparing the search curve for Bitcoin in El Salvador with the search curve for Chivo, the government wallet for BTC, it is clear that the second peak is contemporaneous with that of Chivo, whose searches in September in the country even surpassed those for Bitcoin.
It is very likely that since September, many Salvadorans have been searching Google for information on how to use Bitcoin and the Chivo wallet, although the volume of searches for the wallet dropped rapidly, while the volume of searches for Bitcoin remained high.
What El Salvadorans search for on Google
Taking into consideration the main Bitcoin-related searches in El Salvador, it is clear that those related to its value stand out, literally dominating the ranking of the most searched ones. This, combined with the fact that Bitcoin searches remained high after September, suggests that many Salvadorans have indeed started to use or invest in it.
In light of this data, it is possible to say that the hype for Bitcoin in El Salvador was neither short nor ephemeral, and that it is continuing over time, albeit with slightly less intensity. On the other hand, as of October, El Salvador remains at the top of the list of countries searching for Bitcoin on Google.
The post El Salvador first for Bitcoin searches on Google appeared first on The Cryptonomist.
