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Public interest in Bitcoin (BTC) has unexpectedly returned this month, with the number of Google searches reaching levels not seen since the tail-end of the great crypto bull run.

Google Trends, which compiles search volume data over time, found the number of searches worldwide for ‘Bitcoin’ have more than doubled since the beginning of November. The website, a subsidiary of the search engine, found that in a range of 1-100 since the start of the year, ‘Bitcoin’ searches this week reached 17; up from 8 in the first week of the month. This was the highest number of searches since the first week of April, around eight months ago.

Other crypto-related terms have also seen mild upswings in search volume, but not to the same scale as Bitcoin. ‘Cryptocurrency’ has also seen a mild upswing, up to 12, which it last reached in the first week of August, when the SEC delayed their decision on Cboe’s proposal for a bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Search volumes for the term ‘Ripple’, the company behind the settlement and remittances token, XRP, haven’t really moved over the past three months. Searches for Ethereum (ETH) saw a mild uptick but were still below where they were in mid-September.

Public interest in Bitcoin Cash (BCH) increased in mid-November to the highest it had been since the start of the year. This coincided with the hard fork two weeks ago, when the rivalries between the two sides attracted the attention of the mainstream press.

Is A Boost For Bitcoin Interest Good?

The increase in search volumes for Bitcoin coincide with the market wipeout that occupied most of November. Bitcoin fell through all of its support levels, falling to a new yearly low of $3,600 on Sunday evening; cryptocurrency’s total value shed just under $100bn in two weeks. The story, which occupied most crypto-oriented news sources, was also picked up by the mainstream media, which may explain the uptick in interest.

“When you hit near bottom, it changes people’s perspective,” said Alexis Roussel, CEO of Bity, a crypto finance platform. “Traditional commentators say bitcoin is dead, but in reality, the number of real use cases is only growing. We are now entering the ‘BUIDL’ era, a time when the industry has a chance to mature.”

The market has yet to recover, but it has brought bitcoin, and by extension cryptocurrencies, back into the spotlight. Although this month’s search volumes are still far below where they were last year, renewed interest is a promising sign.

“The overall increase in crypto awareness is a good thing,” said Reuben Yap, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Zcoin, a private transactions protocol. “Bitcoin is a safe haven and is not going anywhere. While the same cannot be said for altcoins, it would be great to see them achieve similar levels of adoption and community base because a diverse crypto ecosystem offers so much more value beyond market price.”

This author is invested in BTC and ETH, which are mentioned in this article.