The crypto world has a unique dynamism. Despite the bear market, building activities continue at full speed. New concepts create excitement and then leave a place for other ideas. And all this happens in a matter of weeks. When did concepts such as Web3, DAO, DEFI, Play-to-earn, and NFT reach their peak popularity? Thanks to Google Trends, we can answer this question.
DEFI
Decentralized finance like the spring and summer months. DEFI, which first attracted the attention of the masses in 2020, reached its peak in July 2021. Especially in the first half of 2021, a new decentralized exchange was opening almost daily. Then in DEFI, the focus changed constantly. Investors' primary areas of interest were lending protocols, blockchain bridges, yield farming applications, decentralized stablecoins, and liquid staking.
NFT
NFT is the most popular crypto-related search term I've reviewed on Google Trends. NFTs appeal to a much broader audience beyond crypto enthusiasts. Interest in NFTs peaked in January 2022.
Play-to-earn
Public interest in play-to-earn games also developed in parallel with NFTs. After all, NFTs are one of the building blocks of play-to-earn games. The appeal reached its peak in January 2022 and has regressed today. However, the decline in interest is less compared to NFTs.
Metaverse
Facebook's renaming of Meta last fall sparked an explosion of interest in metaverse projects. After the peak in January, interest in the metaverse, like NFTs, decreased.
Dapp
The popularity of decentralized apps peaked in May 2021. Dapps have gained widespread application primarily through DEFI implementations. Dapps was one of the elements that later formed the infrastructure of the rising wave of GameFi. Interest in the subject continues despite the bear market.
Web3
The hype cycle pattern is often seen in crypto search terms. We can give the above NFT chart as an example.
Interest in WEB3 peaked in December 2021 and continued steadily. If we make a technical analysis of the interest graph, we can expect a new jump in interest :)
DAO
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) are a concept that has become popular recently in the crypto world. The popularity of the term peaked in December 2021. DAOs have already become one of the indispensable building blocks of crypto networks.
Cryptocurrency
What caught my attention was the correlation of interest in the search term cryptocurrency with the price. When the price rises, the masses are interested in crypto, and whales sell their cryptos at a high price. Interest in cryptocurrencies peaked in January 2018. The second peak was seen in May 2021.
Interoperability
The high Ethereum gas prices led investors to use other networks in 2021. Investors using multiple networks faced the problem of interoperability. Interest in interoperability reached its peak in February 2022. Users continue to show consistent interest in this topic.
Stablecoins
Interest in the search term stablecoin has grown steadily since 2020. It peaked in May 2022 in conjunction with the collapse of Terra Luna.
Tokenization
Tokenization is one of the concepts in which the interest shown by the users has increased steadily. It saw its peak in September 2022. The news that Swift's pilot studies on tokenized assets have been completed may have increased the interest in tokenization.
Layer 2
Layer 2 solutions have made great strides in blockchain scaling. Layer 2 of many networks, especially Ethereum, is being created. Hive is one of the ambitious networks in this regard. Interest in Layer 2 continues to grow.
Popularity Timeline
The times when crypto concepts were most popular are listed in the table below.
| Concept | Tipping Point | Current Adaptation |
|---|---|---|
| Cryptocurrency | January 2018 | High |
| Dapp | May 2021 | High |
| DEFI | July 2021 | Moderate |
| Web3 | December 2021 | Low |
| DAO | December 2021 | Moderate |
| NFT | January 2022 | Moderate |
| Metaverse | January 2022 | Low |
| Play-to-earn | January 2022 | Moderate |
| Interoperability | February 2022 | Low |
| Stablecoins | May 2022 | High |
| Tokenization | September 2022 | Moderate |
Conclusion
The interest in some of the concepts I briefly mentioned above has decreased. Yet each of these concepts forms the building blocks of the crypto ecosystem. Adding non-custodial wallets and consensus mechanisms to the technologies I have listed above is also possible.
There are also emerging areas in the crypto world, such as zero-knowledge proofs, oracles, and decentralized identity. Every building block of crypto is evolving separately. And when these building blocks come together, they create a unique synergy. Newly added items increase the added value created exponentially.
In the cryptoverse, the show is just getting started.
Thank you for reading.