Online search interest in the UAE for cryptocurrencies closely follows the price fluctuations of leading digital assets, according to a recent research report from SEMrush – the award-winning digital marketing suite.

The global research found that searches conducted online in the UAE echoed other markets and overall global trends in a decreasing interest in cryptocurrencies after Bitcoin’s exchange rates spiked to a historical high in December 2017. During the same month, global online searches for Bitcoin also hit a high of just over 40 million searches, before dipping to around five million average monthly searches globally during the proceeding eight months.

“The correlation between cryptocurrency search volumes and Bitcoin exchange rates was much higher globally in early 2018, but today there appears to be a much weaker correlation between online search volumes and the exchange rates,” commented Adam Zeidan Corporate Communications Manager for SEMrush in MENA region.

The SEMrush report shows that UAE online search volumes for ‘cryptocurrency’ also spiked in December 2017. Again, echoing global trends, UAE online searches have since dropped and now remain behind the monthly average online search volumes related to traditional, or general, financial trading terms such as ‘stock market’.

SEMrush highlighted that the second most searched cryptocurrency in the UAE after Bitcoin is Ripple. Average monthly searches for Bitcoin in the UAE dropped from 100,000 searches a month during the spike in exchange rates in early 2018 to the current level of 15,000 searches a month.

As for specific blockchain-related searches in the UAE, the top spot was for healthcare related blockchain, which registered around 1,000 average monthly searches. This was followed by blockchain for banking, security, insurance and real estate.

“Twitter sentiment on cryptocurrency in the UAE today is also showing a substantially large neutral audience, which could be either indifference, lack of awareness, or both. Sentiment on cryptocurrency stands at 54.4 per cent neutral, 38.8 per cent positive and 6.7 per cent negative,” pointed out Zeidan.