Engagement with articles about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general saw an additional spike in March 2020, when people researched investing in cryptocurrency as the pandemic began. But, generally speaking, the number of engagements and the number of articles is relatively calm.

That’s not to say that interest in cryptocurrency is dying off. In fact, the volume of social media conversation about crypto (monitored using Brandwatch Consumer Research) is starting to climb to 2018 levels. Mentions of cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, and Dogecoin on social media respectively increased 66%, 80%, and 1,239% in 2020, compared to 2019.

While engagement with articles on the subject is going steadily down, many are still discussing it online and looking to communities and influencers for advice about getting in on the action.

Within the Bitcoin conversation we found that exchanges (5m), wallets (2m), and fees (2m) were huge topics between January 1 2019 and January 31 2021, as people discussed their experiences and sought advice.

But, ultimately, investing was the largest topic of conversation with 625k mentions in January 2021 alone, with many people hoping to cash in on the potentially high returns.

Meanwhile, conversation around Dogecoin — the cryptocurrency initially created as a joke — focused on generating hype and encouraging people to buy in. We found 328k mentions of “buy” and another 176k mentions of “hold” as Dogecoin holders asked their peers to hold off on cashing in, again to increase the price of the coin (and any potential rewards).

Elon Musk boosted the once-laughed-at currency into the mainstream last year, promoting it several times via his social media and generating 239k mentions. In December, the Tesla CEO tweeted: “One word: Doge” and surged the cryptocurrency’s value by 20%. In January 2021 he tweeted yet more support, contributing to the recent conversation and price surge.

The currencies we’ve looked at today have both seen huge relative increases in their value, which have been real drivers of both conversations on social media. That said, as shown in the Elon Musk example above, it works both ways. The right kind of social media conversation can also impact value.

Financial concerns

For many consumers, cryptocurrency is seen as an attractive and often easy way to make some cash. With the pandemic causing financial havoc in many places, Bitcoin could be seen as a possible way out of money trouble – a currency that some investors believe can maintain its value even when economies are under great stress.

And there is lots of money trouble. We found that mentions of financial strain on social media increased 23% in 2020, in comparison to 2019.

What we’re left with is an interesting (and, for some, concerning) situation:

• Many people are struggling with money right now and are looking for ways to get out of financial trouble.
• We also appear to have a rise in casual or inexperienced investors.
• Meanwhile, there’s been a decrease in engagement with established media around cryptocurrency and a lot more chatter in general about it on social media.
• Influencers and online communities have huge power over what people invest in.

The upshot of all this is pretty uncertain. With the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK warning: “If consumers invest in these types of product, they should be prepared to lose all their money,” the situation around cryptocurrency is messy. As the year develops it will be interesting to see how personal finance and cryptocurrency conversations intertwine.