Searches for ‘Bitcoin’ and ‘BTC’ on Google are likely being manipulated. The reasons are not exactly clear yet, though.

‘BTC’ Explodes in Interest on Google

According to Google Trends, the term ‘BTC’ had an unexpected (and completely unbelievable) rise in interest which appears as a straight line upwards on the 5-year chart.

The spike occurred sometime on August 30th and has been steadily oscillating upward since. The search interest for ‘BTC’ has exceeded anything seen in the past five years. However, strangely enough, the term ‘Bitcoin’ has not seen an increase in searches at all.

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Manipulation seems like the likely culprit. For one, the majority of the search interest for ‘BTC’ is coming from Romania. Moreover, the strange rise and falls over just 24H periods seems unnatural. However, since Google Trends is not a completely accurate metric of search volume, it shouldn’t be taken at face value. Still, it seems as though someone is playing with Google searches to inflate ‘BTC’ interest.

Below you can see the 24H fluctuations on a 7-day chart, as recorded by Google Trends.

By all estimates, that’s pretty weird.

Why the Rise?

With Bitcoin dominance sitting at around 70% at the time of writing, a level not seen since March 2017, Google search interest should be trending higher. However, this explosive rise is completely unnatural and is undoubtedly just plain strange.

Perhaps real Bitcoin trading volume is a better indicator of interest in the leading cryptocurrency than just Google Trends. Search interest is usually a lagging indicator for market analysis, anyway.

Do you agree that Google Trends for Bitcoin is being manipulated? Let us know your thoughts below in the comments. 

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Images are courtesy of Shutterstock, Google Trends.

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