With Bitcoin fast approaching its May date with the mining reward halving, there is another topic that has taken over the thoughts of those interested in cryptocurrency. ‘Bitcoin halving’ was a hugely popular topic in the last 12 or so months as investors looked to gather as much information about the potential impact on Bitcoin’s price by this halving.

However, amid the growing Coronavirsu fears to the global market, and how this outbreak could affect the price of Bitcoin in either a positive, or negative, light, there has been an explosion in the search for ‘Bitcoin Coronavirus.’ Bitcoin and its relationship to the Coronavirus have been an interesting one to witness as many expected the coin to skyrocket when the traditional markets fell, but this was not the case.

Bitcoin’s slump at the time of increased fears around the outbreak of the deadly virus was badly timed as many would have hoped it could operate as a hedge in its anti-correlated manner. However, this was not the case as even gold, as a safe haven, saw a slump.

Looking for silver linings

When it comes to Bitcoin searches, there has been a noted correlation between interest in a topic around Bitcoin and its rise in price. This has been coined as a Satoshi cycle as interest increases price and price increases boosts searches.

With the Bitcoin halving the next big incident surrounding Bitcoin’s potential to rise in price, there has been a growing interest in the searches around this topic, but there has not been a massive spike like many assumed before the halving — yet.

Now, the searches have shifted to the relationship between Bitcoin and the outbreak of the Coronavirus that has seen traditional market take a big knock. More so, Because Bitcoin did not prove itself as a hedge when the markets started slipping, there has been a lot of institutional money that has vacated the riskier investment that is cryptocurrencies.

No real effect

Although Bitcoin’s price did slump as much as $1,400 at a time when the virus started wreaking havoc on the markets, there was not much evidence to suggest that the fall was directly linked to the outbreak of the virus as was the case with the traditional market.

Bitcoin still appears to be strongly anti-correlated to the rest of the traditional markets, but it is still considered a risky asset, and perhaps that is the reason why there was a dip in price as institutional investors would have withdrawn somewhat from making such investments.