Bitcoin Is Not the Most Popular Cryptocurrency in the UK (or Ethereum)
Although Bitcoin (BTC) may be the cryptocurrency with the most brand recognition, it is not necessarily the most widely used, at least not across all of Europe.
According to the volume of Google search inquiries over a 12-month period, AskGamblers, an online casino industry authority, identified the top cryptocurrencies across a number of European nations.
According to the study, although Bitcoin was the most widely used cryptocurrency throughout all of Europe, it lost out to a rather surprising rival in places like the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and Italy.
Most Popular Crypto in the UK? The meme coin
In fact, Shiba Inu (SHIB), the much-maligned meme-currency, outperformed both Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) in popularity across seven different European nations, ranking second overall in terms of coin searches.
When Shiba Inu debuted in mid-2021, it was met with both acclaim and contempt. Shiba Inu was developed during the period when Dogecoin (DOGE) was seeing a surge in popularity and Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, was courting it. Shiba Inu made no claim to any practical utility, instead aiming to capitalize on the current demand for meme-coins.
Additionally, as a marketing ploy in 2021, half of the Shiba Inu coin supply—more than 500 billion coins—was sent to Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin. This concentrated a sizable portion of the coin's supply in the hands of a single person, which could have depressed the value of the coin had Buterin decided to sell his holdings.
Fortunately, Buterin said that he didn't want any part in Shiba Inu and sent over $1 billion of the loot to the India Covid Relief Fund before burning the remaining tokens, which at the time were worth a total of $6 billion.
Shiba Inu's 30,000% price increase throughout 2021, when it shot up the rankings of the cryptocurrency market cap and temporarily claimed a top ten slot before falling just as swiftly as it rose, is probably what sparked interest in it from the UK and other European nations.
A dedicated dollar-pegged stablecoin, a dedicated metaverse, and more recent initiatives to grow the Shiba Inu ecosystem have recently been put into motion.
Favorite Cryptocurrencies in Europe
Other than Bitcoin, Shiba Inu was the third most popular cryptocurrency in Europe, followed by Cardano (ADA), Dogecoin, and Ethereum (DOGE).
Two meme coins are among the top five coins, which implies that European cryptocurrency enthusiasts are more than eager to investigate cryptocurrencies that don't take themselves too seriously. It also illustrates the enormous popularity among the general public that meme-coins might attain in contrast to other, less sarcastic cryptos.
It is amazing to observe which cryptocurrency individuals are most interested in investing in given that there are thousands of cryptocurrencies available and that there are 38 million crypto users in Europe. Despite being the most popular worldwide, Shiba Inu interest has surpassed Bitcoin in significant nations like Russia and the UK, according to an AskGamblers spokeswoman.