I noticed an interesting thing with search queries in the US for the phrase 'bitcoin to zero'. In February, they reached an absolute maximum on the Google Trends scale exactly at the moment when BTC dropped below $60,000 after falling more than 50% from the October peak. It looks like a classic signal of retail panic capitulation.

But here’s what’s interesting — if you look at global data, the picture is completely different. Worldwide, the same term peaked back in August and has been declining ever since. It’s now down to 38. So, the panic seems to be mainly localized in the US, not widespread. Apparently, American investors are more strongly influenced by local macro factors — tariffs, tensions with Iran, rotation into safe assets on the stock market. In Asia and Europe, the context is quite different.

Another important point — Google Trends uses a relative scale from 0 to 100, not absolute numbers. A score of 100 in 2026, when the crypto-investor audience in the US is much larger than during the bear market of 2022, doesn’t mean there are more people searching absolutely. It just means this term has grown relative to a higher baseline. Bitcoin has become much more mainstream than before.

Conclusion: retail fear in the US is clearly heightened, and this could be a contrarian indicator. But relying solely on this signal is risky, especially when the global trend is cooling down. There might be a reversal, or there might not be — broader context needs to be considered.

On a related note: Bitmine Immersion Technologies quickly shifted from a mining company to a managed treasury fund of Ethereum using borrowed funds. In six months, they doubled their holdings and attracted over $10 billion to accumulate nearly 5% of the total ETH volume. They now hold 4.87 million ETH. An interesting transformation amid the current ETH price of around $2.32K.