Bitcoin ETFs
The most revealing Google trend this month came in the dramatic increase in search interest for “Bitcoin ETFs” – as can be seen in the title graph. With anticipation surrounding several bitcoin ETF proposals to the SEC (the US Securities and Exchange Commission) believed to be driving much of the bullish price activity in the last month – a particular spike came on July 24th – when the SEC’s decision to delay several bitcoin ETF proposals from Direxion Investments was announced. With the more hotly-anticipated SEC decision on the VanEck and SolidX proposals expected in August – the coming month will likely see this trend continue.
Bitcoin vs. Beyoncé
Used as a kind of informal benchmark of bitcoin’s broader popularity, July saw bitcoin for the most part maintain its edge over the popstar – with the cryptocurrency experiencing two notable surges in popularity as it soared past $7,000 on the 17th and then $8,000 the following week on the 24th.
Altcoins
The Altcoin picture was less dramatic than previous months – although this month did see a surge in interest in EOS on the 16th as block.one – the developer behind EOS – announced some high-profile investors including famous venture capitalist and entrepreneur Peter Thiel and bitcoin mining giant Bitmain in its latest fundraising round.
Exchanges
This month again saw leading exchanges Coinbase and Binance heavily dominating searches – with interest in Binance briefly spiking on July 4th after announcing a new user safety fund – the “Secure Asset Fund For Users (SAFU)” – in the aftermath of trading irregularities that saw at least one user purchase one Syscoin (SYS), worth about $0.26, for the equivalent of $625,000 in bitcoin.
