Since the beginning of this year, there has been a decline in the global search interest for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Whereas the metric peaked at 100 between 23rd and 29th January 2022, it stood at 15 between 7th and 13th August 200, signalling an 85 percent drop. This is according to a Bankless Times analysis of Google Trends data.
In addition, the volume of daily NFT sales has plummeted from just over $6 billion to only $850 million. This is a nearly 90 percent decline.
There are regional differences, however and the term still attracts a lot of interest within the Asian region. Here, China and Hong Kong top the world in terms of NFT search interest. Overall, the continent boasts 7 out of the top 10 countries with the highest NFT search interest. So What’s behind this high level of interest in the region?
To do this, the survey looked at a scoring from 0-100 based which outlined how this interest increased and decreased overtime – with 0 being no interest, and 100 being of the highest interest.
The outcome was:
Country | Dec 2021 | Aug 2022 | Change |
China | 100 | 100 | 0.00% |
Hong Kong SAR | 60 | 100 | 66.67% |
Singapore | 75 | 89 | 18.67% |
Gibraltar | 66 | 71 | 7.58% |
Macao | 36 | 69 | 91.67% |
Nigeria | 27 | 68 | 151.85% |
Taiwan | 26 | 54 | 107.69% |
Cayman Islands | 66 | 51 | -22.73% |
Mongolia | 51 | 51 | 0.00% |
South Korea | 43 | 50 | 16.28% |
Andorra | 56 | 50 | -10.71% |
Cyprus | 42 | 49 | 16.67% |
Lebanon | 31 | 49 | 58.06% |
Caribbean Netherlands | 27 | 48 | 77.78% |
Philippines | 51 | 47 | -7.84% |
French Polynesia | 20 | 47 | 135.00% |
Bermuda | 41 | 45 | 9.76% |
United Arab Emirates | 34 | 44 | 29.41% |
Sint Maarten | 48 | 44 | -8.33% |
Georgia | 18 | 42 | 133.33% |
With China and Hong Kong leading, China has maintained a high level of interest in NFTs since December 2021. Its search value has stayed at around 100 throughout that period.
On the other hand, Hong Kong has seen a more significant increase in the metric. In December 2021, its search value was 60; as of August 13th, it stood at 100. That represented a 66.67 percent increase in the topic’s hold over that period.
Another Asian Country with significant growth in its NFT search interest is Taiwan. The country saw its NFT search interest value jump 107 percent from 26 to 54. Singapore, Macau, Mongolia, and South Korea complete the Asian septet in the top ten.
Gibraltar, Nigeria, and the Cayman Islands were the only non-Asian countries to make it to the top ten list.
In contrast to the Asian area growth, the U.S., Canada, and Venezuela have experienced some of the biggest drops in NFT search interest values. To better understand what’s driving these changes, let’s take a closer look at each country individually.
The U.S. placed 38th with an NFT search interest index of 36. This was an 18 percent drop from the 44 it registered in December 2021. There seems to be a correlation between a rise in America’s search interest in the topic and the announcement of high-profile NFT projects.