Bitcoin [BTC] is undoubtedly the anchor of the overarching cryptocurrency market, holding over 50 percent dominance, hence it bears no surprise that when the market surges, Bitcoin is among the highest gainers. The general public seems to echo this belief, flocking to the market only after a price rise has shown its first inkling.

Data from Google Trends attests the same, with the search query volume for “buy bitcoin” surging once the price rise is well documented and disseminated to the general public. As the April 1 price rally surged the price of the top crypto and the valuation of the collective market, public sentiment was veered towards acquiring this financial asset that rose by over 17 percent in a single day.

On April 1, when Bitcoin boomed over $5,000 for the first time in over four months, the search volume for “buy bitcoin,” skyrocketed by 138.09 percent from 42 to 100 within two days. As the most bullish week for the cryptocurrency market in 2019 closed, the search results held steady at around 65, according to the data.

Interestingly, it was not the known crypto-investor havens of the United States, China, South Korea or Japan that came out as the most curious, although they did post solid numbers, it was the east-African giant Nigeria, which had the most optimistic buyers. In fact, four of the top-five intrigued countries were African, with Cameroon, Chana and Mauritius joining the list.

Despite Bitcoin purchases being quizzed by the uninformed, their methods of purchase remained traditional. The number one related query to “buy bitcoin” was “how to buy bitcoin with paypal”. Other top queries included “bitcoin news” and “how to buy bitcoin cash”.

This relativity should not be taken as a face-value win for the cryptocurrency industry as the intuition behind this query and the timing of it indicated how the general, non-crypto-oriented population envisages the virtual currency realm. The trend reveals a fear within the general public that Bitcoin can never be a pure store of value, much less a medium of payment.

An obvious FOMO can be inferred from this behavior, as the public fears missing out on a volatile asset that they can easily make thousands of dollars off, within a short time frame, that being the only objective they have from Bitcoin investment. The very extraction of additional “dollars” as the sole goal of trading virtual currency investment is a defeat of the very principles that defines it.

Virtual currencies were curated with the goal of elimination of fiat, not a platforming of them in decentralized currency form for making a “quick buck”. By looking at the virtual currency realm as a mere investment vehicle, Bitcoin and it’s like will be no better than any other money-making device, which is far from its original aim.

The demarcation between investment vehicles and a pure store of value, as seen by traditionalists, are the reliability, use, and ease of the latter over the former, which should worry the decentralized currency ecosystem. Bitcoin, still in the early stages of its development and spread compared to the larger financial market, should peg itself more on the implementation, rather than price, which is often the prime concern of many in the community, cue the “crypto-winter” hysteria.

Many crypto-influencers have suggested, prior to the market upheaval albeit, that during the bear market, the focus should be on building the industry rather than waiting for a price push. Well, now it looks like the price push has manifested, and temporarily or permanently is a question of the future, the emphasis should be on building the industry. Maybe within a few years, the “buy bitcoin” search query will spread throughout the year and will not mimic the price cycle.

The post Bitcoin [BTC]: Public views Bitcoin less as a store of value and more as a ‘get rich quick’ scheme appeared first on AMBCrypto.

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