The sudden rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications in 2020 has rearranged the cryptocurrency landscape. In a little over two years, a combined sum of $2 billion has made its way into various DeFi protocols, while giving birth to the “yield mining” meme in the meantime.
With this in mind, it perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that searches for Aave have exploded on Google Trends. Aave (LEND) is the third-largest lending protocol on Ethereum, with over $138 million locked in, and is the fifth largest DeFi application in existence.
But the sudden spike in Google searches for Aave might not be as straightforward as it seems.
Aave Google Searches Suddenly Explode
Seen below, Aave searches rose steadily over the past year – then suddenly exploded between April and June 2020, climbing 211% in that time.
Indeed, that spike can partially be attributed to Binance’s decision to list Aave’s LEND token on May 15. A follow up Binance research post by the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange drew more attention to Aave, and now, two months on, the LEND token price is more than double what it was then.
Between May 15 and the time of writing, the LEND token value rose from $0.062995 up to $0.175582 – a 178% increase.
So the sudden flourish of Aave searches on Google can be explained by the token’s rapidly growing fortunes, right?
Well, actually, there seems to be another factor influencing searches for the term “Aave” on Google.
African American Vernacular English
AAVE, or “African American Vernacular English” – also known as ebonics – is a term used to describe a form of African American slang. Seen below, the top related searches and queries on Gooogle Trends relate largely around AAVE – not Aave.
The term “Bipoc” is also listed as a breakout search term. According to Dictionary.com, BIPOC is an acronym that stands for “Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.” The term began in social justice circles following the death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests which followed.
The term has not been well received by all racial equality campaigners, as reported in the New York Times, with some people of color deeming it a one-size-fits-all term that lumps all minorities in together.
Either way, searches for the term “Aave,” in whatever form, have increased 211% since May alone. Whether that means the DeFi lending protocol is booming, or that Black Lives Matter is gaining more of a foothold, is anyone’s guess.
Click here to start trading on BitMEX and receive 10% discount on fees for 6 months.
The post appeared first on CryptoPotato
