Interest in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has surged to record levels, outpacing many of the top ten crypto-asset-related search terms in traffic, Google keyword search data shows.
Google Trends shows interest in NFTs surged at the start of the year, following frantic speculation on Dapper Labs’ NBA Top Shot and Ethereum-based NFTs.
At first, the search bubble seemed short-lived—search volume was down about 75% by the end of June, but search interest began to rebound in July and hit new highs by the end of October.
Search volume for 'NFT' (blue) and 'non-fungible token' (red) over 24 months: Google Trends
Since then, Google search traffic for NFT-related keywords has continued to soar, doubling in the past three months.
The surge in interest in NFTs has overtaken many of the keywords that have long dominated cryptocurrency-related search traffic, including "DeFi," "Ethereum," and even "blockchain."
Search volume for NFT (blue), Ethereum (red), blockchain (yellow), Dogecoin (green) and DeFi (purple) over the past 24 months: Google Trends
While Dogecoin has firmly captured the public's imagination in the second quarter -- searches for "Dogecoin" rose to rival levels with "Bitcoin" in early May -- the popularity of the Doge-like token faded quickly in the third quarter. As such, Google Trends data suggests that the momentum behind the Doge token rally was immediately channeled into the hype for NFTs.
NFT mania sweeps Asia
According to Google Trends, NFT search traffic is currently dominated by Asian countries, with China, Uganda, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines leading the search rankings for this keyword.
Searches for “NFT” in China peaked between September 5 and 11 this year. The surge in search interest comes a month after Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent launched NFT trading platform Huannuo, and Alibaba launched a marketplace that allows users to trade licenses to create NFTs from copyrighted content.
Countries Ranked by "NFT" Search Volume: Google Trends
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