I recently came across an interesting study analyzing the trending Google keywords over the past five years, revealing many authentic search behaviors of retail investors. The results are quite revealing.

First, the general trend. The most searched terms in the crypto space are still basic concepts—words like crypto, blockchain, and token. But what truly indicates user intent are searches like "trade" and "invest," which have consistently high search volumes, showing that most newcomers are entering the space driven by trading and investing interests. Interestingly, topics related to passive income continue to attract a dedicated group of people.

Looking at trading platforms, the search popularity of centralized exchanges (CEX) has consistently overshadowed decentralized exchanges (DEX). This reflects the actual choices of retail investors—most still prefer using CEX. A major exchange has maintained the top search ranking throughout 2024. Despite the growth of DeFi in recent years, retail investors still see centralized platforms as the main entry point. However, a notable shift occurred at the end of 2024: interest in decentralized exchanges hit a new high, especially driven by meme coin activity within the Solana ecosystem.

Regarding specific projects, top DEXs like Uniswap and Raydium have performed strongly in recent search rankings, and derivatives protocols like Hyperliquid have also re-entered the public eye. The market experienced a surge in interest around November last year.

The distribution of popular keywords at the token level is also quite interesting. Bitcoin’s search volume remains the highest, even though it peaked in 2021. Despite reaching new all-time highs recently, it hasn't regained the same level of search interest as back then. Ethereum and other major coins have relatively stable search volumes, but XRP has seen a noticeable increase after its recent rebound.

From a narrative perspective, RWA (Real-World Assets) and AI x Crypto have been the most eye-catching fields lately, while older narratives like DeFi, DePIN, and GameFi have taken a backseat. Meme coins hit a record high in search interest at the end of 2024, and AI-related tokens are gradually gaining attention.

What’s the most interesting discovery? Looking at the 2024 search rankings, it’s clear: Bitcoin is far ahead, followed by Ethereum, DEX, CEX, and foundational concepts like L1/L2. DeFi, Altcoins, RWA, AI Agents, and Memecoins follow in the rankings. In Web3 brand rankings, the familiar names—Bitcoin, XRP, TON, a major exchange, Ethereum, Solana—still dominate.

This reveals a reality: the new narratives and projects discussed daily on Crypto Twitter are not that significant in the search behaviors of global retail investors. Most retail investors still enter the crypto world through centralized exchanges, and the influence of DeFi is much smaller than community discussions suggest. The brands and projects popular within the community are largely invisible to ordinary investors. This gap is worth pondering.