If it feels like 2022 has been a little less exciting for the cryptocurrency space, your instinct may not be too far off.

Judging by Google search trends, interest in cryptocurrencies have hit a short-term peak.

Global interest in virtual currencies like bitcoin (BTC-USD) and ethereum (ETH-USD) are 70% below their 2021 highs, according to new data from DataTrek. Query volumes for “nft” [non-fungible tokens] are also pretty weak at 65% lower than their January 2022 highs.

"If you are interested in this space, we’d recommend waiting for search interest to pick up. Like all new technologies, these only grow in value when adoption rates increase quickly. And even then, they are tricky," DataTrek said in a tweet.

To be sure, it looks like the crypto curious are taking that wait-and-see approach at the moment.

Bitcoin prices have mostly traded sideways since early February, same goes for ethereum. The price for the benchmark crypto dropped to a low of about $37,000 in late February, but quickly rallied to above $40,000.

Currently, bitcoin is priced at $42,448 — down 39% or so from the early November 2021 highs of $69,000. Year to date, bitcoin is down about 8.5% compared to a 5.4% decline for the S&P 500.

As for the primary crypto-exposed stocks, their prices have reflected the lack of enthusiasm.

Coinbase shares are down 26% on the year, Robinhood has shed 24%, PayPal is down 37% and Block has declined 12%.

Crypto experts believe the tepid action in the space reflects uncertainty on future Federal Reserve policy, industry regulation and the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

“Risk assets remain volatile and the result is likely continued uncertainty over the next few months,” Chris Matta, president of crypto asset manager, 3iQ US, told Yahoo Finance crypto reporter David Hollerith. “Crypto falls into that bucket as we stay in a more risk-off environment.”

© 2022 LeackStat.com