Google searches for ‘Bitcoin going to zero’ at highest since 2022

Google searches for “Bitcoin going to zero” person surged to their highest level since the post‑FTX panic successful Nov. 2022, according to Google Trends information for the past 5 years. 

The spike aligns with Bitcoin’s latest drawdown from its Oct. 6, 2025, all‑time precocious adjacent $126,000 to astir $66,500 astatine the clip of penning connected Thursday, according to data from Coingecko, leaving the plus astir 50% beneath its peak. 

At the aforesaid time, the Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index has plunged into utmost fearfulness astir 9, levels antecedently seen during the Terra ecosystem collapse and the FTX fallout successful 2022.

Google Trends shows that worldwide involvement successful the operation “Bitcoin going to zero” past deed comparable levels successful aboriginal November 2022, erstwhile FTX froze withdrawals, and Bitcoin (BTC) crashed to astir $15,000. 

Google searches for “Bitcoin going to zero.” Source: Google Trends

Today’s Bitcoin fears antithetic from 2022

Crypto quality level Perception analyzed communicative quality crossed 650+ crypto media sources and shared their findings with Cointelegraph. 

Founder Fernando Nikolic said that fearfulness successful 2022 was driven by interior events, specified arsenic cascading failures of centralized lenders and 1 of the industry’s largest exchanges, portion today’s fearfulness is “driven by macro fears and being amplified by a azygous bearish voice.”

Related: Bitcoin passes $69K connected slower US CPI print, but Fed rate-cut likelihood enactment low

Nikolic said that Bloomberg’s Mike McGlone has been the loudest azygous dependable driving the “Bitcoin could spell to zero (or near-zero)” narrative, and that helium has been a “one-man contented instrumentality this cycle,” calling Bitcoin to $10,000, saying markets were headed for a 2008-style crash, and continuously calling for Bitcoin’s diminution passim implicit the past month.

He told Cointelegraph that McGlone is repeatedly amplified by crypto media sites and has “essentially been the go-to bearish punctuation for the past 3 weeks.” “This media saturation apt contributes straight to the Google hunt spike,” helium said.

Retail fearfulness lags nonrecreational media sentiment 

Meanwhile, Nikolic said that the existent counterpoint that “nobody is synthesizing” is that, portion “Bitcoin to zero” searches are spiking, organization buyers are accumulating much BTC, pointing to the information that sovereign wealthiness funds, specified arsenic Abu Dhabi, are expanding their Bitcoin exchange-traded money holdings, and ample corporations similar Strategy proceed to stack BTC.

According to Perception data, helium said, media sentiment bottomed connected Feb. 5, but has been recovering for 2 weeks, portion Google “Bitcoin going to zero” searches are peaking present successful mid-February.

Related: Willy Woo warns quantum hazard is eroding Bitcoin’s borderline implicit gold

Retail fearfulness lags nonrecreational media sentiment by astir 10-14 days, helium said. “By the clip the nationalist is astir scared, the nonrecreational communicative has already started to stabilize. The retail communicative and organization behaviour are moving successful other directions.”

Macro fears and quantum angst

The surge successful “Bitcoin going to zero” searches is besides unfolding against a backdrop of record‑high macro anxiety. 

The World Uncertainty Index, which counts references to “uncertainty” successful Economist Intelligence Unit state reports, is sitting astatine its highest level successful the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED) clip series, exceeding the peaks seen astir the 2008 planetary fiscal situation and the 2020 COVID‑19 shock.

World Uncertainty Index. Source: FRED

Research underpinning the scale finds that spikes successful planetary uncertainty thin to precede weaker output and slower maturation arsenic firms hold concern and hiring. 

Quantum fears person besides been a persistent inheritance narrative since October 2025, according to Nikolic, but helium said that quantum fearfulness spikes alongside terms drops, not independently. 

“Bitcoin quantum” searches peaked successful November 2025 and person been falling steadily since, according to Google Trends.

“It’s an amplifier of existing bearish sentiment, not a standalone driver. The “Bitcoin going to zero” hunt inclination is apt a composite of price-crash fearfulness + quantum existential fearfulness + McGlone-style macro doom, each converging successful the aforesaid window.”

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