Google's analytical data shows that the term bitcoin is at its historical peak of searches in Argentina. In the last week of December 2020 (which is the last updated data available), the number of searches performed in December 2017, which was the record until now, was exceeded.
According to AnswerThePublic, among the searches with questions related to bitcoin most performed by Argentines are: Who created it? Why is it so expensive? How to invest? How to register? When to buy and sell? Where to buy?
Among the reasons why bitcoin arouses interest among the Argentine public, we can mention the rapid devaluation of the national currency and the exchange restrictions that do not allow free access to US dollars, a currency traditionally used as a form of savings. Many seem to have discovered that BTC, which at the time of writing is worth ARS 5.4 million, is another option for safeguarding their savings.
It can also be assumed that the reason for this marked interest is the existence of a large community of users, with several early-adopters who since the early years of the past decade have been providing free training and conducting bitcoin outreach activities (or "evangelists", as they are often called).
Already in July 2020, CriptoNoticias reported that bitcoin purchase levels in Argentina were at maximum levels, according to information provided by exhcanges LOCALBITCOINS and Paxful.
The search term cryptcoin has the same fate as bitcoin in the country of tango, and is at an all-time high. Even so, it barely exceeds one tenth of the searches that bitcoin has.
This is not the case if you consider some of the so-called altcoins. For example, the searches for Ethereum in Google, although at the highest level in the last three years, have not yet reached the historical maximum which, as with bitcoin, occurred in December 2017.
Bitcoin searches in the world, far from the historical maximum
The case of Argentina is an exception to the global trend. If you don't discriminate by country, you can see in Google Trends that the interest in bitcoin, although it has increased in recent weeks, is not even half of what it was in December 2017. At that time, the price of cryptoactive reached for the first time values close to USD 20,000, which were only now equalized and surpassed.
If all the bitcoin searches throughout history are taken into account, Argentina is only in the 47th position in the ranking, behind countries such as Spain, Venezuela, Italy, Colombia, the United States and Brazil. The first place is for Nigeria, followed by South Africa and Ghana.
It can be inferred from this that, although searches in Argentina are at their peak, the volume of interested parties is not yet such as to make the world trend vary significantly.
Also, from the data seen so far, an optimistic prediction could be made about the price of BTC. Even though it is at historical highs, it still does not seem to generate the same interest it did during the December 2017 bull run. If that level of curiosity is replicated, and if that has an impact on the arrival of new investors, the price of bitcoin could increase considerably.
