Since the Bitcoin industry entered late-October, there has been an auspicious rise in search queries for the cryptocurrency, in spite of the downtrend that shocked crypto-centric investors worldwide. As reported by Ethereum World News, per Google Trends, the “Bitcoin” query has risen to a four-month volume high. The search term, “Bitcoin Cash,” also saw a notable explosion in volume.

Tom Lee and Mati Greenspan, two industry savants, both commented on this trend, with the former calling the statistic “interesting,” while the latter noted that “we’re back.” And interestingly, mainstream media outlets have picked up on this renewed trend, recently covering the cryptosphere incessantly and through a variety of different mediums.

CNBC, for one, recently began to call upon the executives, analysts, and researchers in the cryptosphere to make appearances on their television segments, which have become fairly infamous for their (sometimes inaccurate) coverage of Bitcoin.

Last week, they brought on Barry Silbert, the man behind crypto-centric conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG), to speak on the current state of cryptocurrency affairs and its potential future.

Bitcoin Cash Hard Fork Was An Industry “Disservice”

Discussing an industry hot topic, Silbert, who owns/manages stakes in this industry’s foremost startups, noted that the Bitcoin Cash debacle, which hasn’t even come to its final head just yet, is a distraction for investors.

Elaborating on this point, clearly indicating that he isn’t a big fan of the fracas, but remains a Bitcoin proponent, the DCG chief noted:

The fork is a distraction. The industry did itself a real disservice, but let me give you the other side of that — if Bitcoin emerges as the winner, it will have been battle-tested, as it has been challenged by competitive cryptocurrencies and internal development strife.

Silbert: Death Of ICOs, Ethereum (ETH) Sell-Off, And Crashing Stocks Prompted The Crash

Drawing the conversation back to this budding industry’s flavor of the month — the dismal market conditions — Silbert did his best to reason why Bitcoin, coupled with its altcoin brethren, underwent a jaw-dropping sell-off that caught investors with their pants down, as it were.

He first explained that crypto’s largest investors are funds/groups with asymmetric risk appetites. Silbert added that these funds often hold positions in high-risk, often-tumultuous technology stocks, coupled with cryptocurrency holdings. So, seeing that lines that can be drawn between the recent sell-offs seen in equities and crypto, it is apparent that the macro market has been proding Bitcoin investors.

The DCG head, one of the crypto industry’s foremost entrepreneurs then drew attention to the ICO market, which has been beaten and bashed by an SEC crackdown recently. Keeping in mind that ICOs primarily catalyzed 2017’s monumental bull run, the fact that “ICO market is completely unwinding” has evidently been a bearish catalyst for crypto assets.

Further speaking on this purposed factor, he explained that as ICO-funded tokens have collapsed, startups have sought to liquidate their war chests, which were primarily filled with Ether to stay financially afloat,

Last but not least, he noted that crypto hedge funds are finally seeing their first redemptions, putting further selling pressure on the cryptocurrency market, presumably through Bitcoin sell orders.

Title Image Courtesy of Marco Verch on Flickr