Bitcoin (BTC) hitting $10,000 catapulted it back into mainstream consciousness — but internet consumers were paying attention before, data shows.

Statistics from monitoring resource Bitinfocharts reveal that in early February, mentions of Bitcoin on Twitter alone spiked to two-year highs.

75,000 Bitcoin tweets per day

At the time, BTC/USD traded at around $9,400, having reached its highest level since September 2019 several days previously.

Tweets including Bitcoin reached 75,000 on Feb. 2, a huge contrast to standard behavior and the most since early 2018, as markets digested Bitcoin’s precipitous fall from all-time highs of $20,000.

Subsequent days saw considerably fewer tweets — around 38,000 — still noticeably higher than the months preceding the spike.

Bitcoin tweets 2-year chart. Source: Bitinfocharts

Google Trends: searches highest since August

Google search activity has also picked up this month. Analysis for the term “Bitcoin” shows users searched for the term more in the past seven days than at any time since last August.

During that month in 2019, BTC/USD fell from highs of $11,800 to levels below $10,000, having previously seen eighteen-month highs of $13,800.

Worldwide Google search data for “Bitcoin.” Source: Google Trends

As Cointelegraph reported, the end of the year had the opposite effect — uninspiring price-performance accompanied a tail-off in awareness and interest online. Events in Iran in January went some way to disrupt the status quo.

At present, according to Google Trends, it is Nigeria and South Africa which form the main sources of renewed curiosity about Bitcoin. These are followed by Austria, Switzerland and Ghana.

Among the most popular related topics, Square’s Cash app is a noticeable feature, the payment service providing full support for Bitcoin transactions.