According to Joe Vezzani, the CEO of social media analysis platform LunarCrush, retail investors are not yet buying into the hype surrounding the increasing prices of Bitcoin and other digital assets. Vezzani noted that social interactions and overall retail interest are still relatively low compared to the last major bull run. In the past six months, there have been bursts of activity in January and March in posts mentioning Bitcoin. The January surge may be attributed to the excitement surrounding spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) following their approval by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Similarly, there was an increase in posts in March when Bitcoin reached a new all-time high, but the number of posts remained steady even as the price rallied to $73,737 on March 14.
In terms of Ethereum, social mentions of the cryptocurrency have remained somewhat steady in the past six months, although data indicates a downward trend since the beginning of March. On the other hand, Solana’s token has experienced several bursts of activity in the past six months, likely driven by the memecoin frenzy on the network. However, social media posts mentioning Solana have declined at the start of April.
Vezzani suggested that if spam and bots were factored out from the interactions, the crypto space could be witnessing a decline in social media activity. He also expressed skepticism about a substantial shift in retail engagement, even with upcoming major events like the Bitcoin halving. Vezzani argued that the halving is typically perceived as more of an insider event and introducing concepts like this may alienate the public and diminish their interest in the discourse surrounding Bitcoin.
When asked about the importance of analyzing social engagement data, Vezzani emphasized that the crypto markets remain fragmented, with new coins and exchanges emerging. Therefore, he believes that examining social engagement provides traders with an advantage. Vezzani stated that information on social media can help protect traders from downside risks and identify promising coins that can maintain a strong social media presence over time.