• The interest in cryptocurrencies has grown to a large extent since 2020, and Hawaii has recorded the highest search volume in the United States.
  • With a surge of 687% in user interest for cryptocurrencies, Hawaii leads in the United States with the highest interest in cryptocurrencies.
  • With increasing interest in cryptocurrencies among Hawaii residents, the state government may come out with crypto-friendly regulations soon.

The Crypto space is gaining mainstream attention and adoption for the last few months of 2020 and is expected to continue into 2021. It is especially true in the United States’ case, with record-high interest in cryptocurrencies among the US residents. In a recent survey, it was found that the demand for cryptocurrencies has been steadily increasing in the country, with the US state of Hawaii recording the highest demand.

The survey was based on Google trends accounting for the user interest in cryptocurrencies in 2020 and 2021 by MiQ Digital. The results were interesting as it found that the interest in cryptocurrencies has surged by more than 3000% in the US, with nearly 687% of the interest coming from Hawaii alone. The other states that recorded more than 600% increase include Nevada, California, Florida, and Colorado.

Among all the cryptocurrencies, Dogecoin gained the most attention, with more than 1781% jump in interest across the US. However, Bitcoin, which surged more than 50% since 2020, continues to be most popular in Hawaii and Nevada. Such an astounding growth in interest among the US residents for cryptocurrencies may pave way for a better regulatory environment.

Is The Time To Regulate Bitcoin?

Hawaii is among the states where Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are in the grey area. It means that cryptocurrencies are neither legal nor illegal in the state. Way back in 2017, when the state passed the order for the crypto exchanges to maintain equal cash reserves as collateral for the number of cryptocurrencies they offer to trade, many exchanges halted their services in the state.

Source: Freepik

Popular exchanges like Coinbase and Binance discontinued their operations in Hawaii. Moreover, Paypal, which recently began offering crypto purchases & sales, does not offer this service in Hawaii. However, with growing interest, the state took an initiative to create a new sandbox for regulating Digital currencies in March 2020. It allowed 12 crypto firms to carry out crypto services without having to follow the 2017 rule.

Since then, the crypto space is witnessing a growth in the user base, and the businesses supporting crypto payments have also grown continuously in Hawaii. It shows that though cryptocurrencies may not be part of the mainstream economy yet, the increase in demand may compel the authorities to regulate them.