Google search interest in Dogecoin outstrips Bitcoin for first time

Global public interest in Dogecoin (DOGE), as measured by internet search statistics, has exceeded that of Bitcoin (BTC) for the first time. According to data from Google Trends, values assigned to each cryptocurrency for May 2–8 stand at 56/100 points for DOGE versus 48/100 for BTC. 

As the chart below shows, search interest in DOGE over the past 12 months has often closely correlated with peaks and troughs in public interest in Bitcoin, although the interest in the two coins has previously diverged. This week, however, shows not only a strong non-correlation but a higher level of interest in DOGE in absolute terms.

Google Trends search data comparison between DOGE (red) and BTC (blue) over the past 12 months

As previously reported, DOGE has had nothing if not a dramatic 2021. In mid-April, the coin gained 80% in value in just one day to cap 5,000% in year-to-date returns. As a quintessential meme cryptocurrency, much of the asset's dizzying price hikes have been fueled by social media sentiment and, arguably, its frequent, if jocular, endorsement by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.   

Yet as noted already in April, high levels of public interest in the asset aren't necessarily indicative of its good fortune on the markets. Indeed, this week has been distinctly bearish for DOGE, coinciding with a fresh bout of publicity for the coin during Musk's latest appearance on Saturday Night Live. 

Blockstream's Adam Back has recently observed that its meme logic translates into a high-stakes, volatile “pump and dump casino rug-pull” grounded in the widespread perception that the asset lacks inherent value but can be rallied around and shorted for a potential profit.

As data from Google Trends shows, this "casino market logic," in Back's words, remains at its strongest in the United States, followed by the U.S. Virgin Islands and Turkey. On the month, DOGE remains up by over 600%, but has traded horizontally with a 0.6% decline in value on the week, and a 1.6% gain on the day.