Google searches for the phrase "Bitcoin going to zero" have surged to their highest level since the post-FTX panic of November 2022, according to Google Trends data. This spike in retail fear coincides with Bitcoin's significant price correction, having fallen nearly 50% from its all-time high near $126,000 on October 6, 2025, to approximately $66,500. The Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index has also plunged into "extreme fear" territory, reaching levels around 9, comparable to those seen during the Terra ecosystem collapse and the FTX implosion.
Analysis from crypto intelligence platform Perception, which monitors over 650 media sources, indicates a key difference in the current fear narrative. Founder Fernando Nikolic explained that while the 2022 fear was driven by internal industry failures, today's sentiment is "driven by macro fears and being amplified by a single bearish voice." That voice is identified as Bloomberg analyst Mike McGlone, who has been a prominent bear, calling for Bitcoin to fall to $10,000 and warning of a 2008-style market crash. Nikolic notes that McGlone's views have been heavily amplified by crypto media over the past three weeks, likely contributing directly to the Google search spike.
Despite the retail panic, institutional behavior appears to be moving in the opposite direction. Nikolic points to sovereign wealth funds, like Abu Dhabi's, increasing their Bitcoin ETF holdings and corporations such as Strategy continuing to accumulate BTC. Perception's data shows that professional media sentiment bottomed on February 5 and has been recovering for two weeks, while the peak in public fear searches is occurring now, suggesting retail fear lags professional sentiment by about 10-14 days.
The broader context includes record-high macro anxiety, with the World Uncertainty Index at its highest level in the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED) time series, surpassing peaks from the 2008 financial crisis and the 2020 COVID-19 shock. Meanwhile, fears over quantum computing's threat to Bitcoin's cryptography, which spiked in November 2025, have been receding according to Google Trends data. Nikolic characterizes quantum fear as an "amplifier of existing bearish sentiment, not a standalone driver."
This view is supported by a separate research note from NYDIG. Head of Research Greg Cipolaro argues that data does not support quantum fears as the primary driver of Bitcoin's sell-off. He notes that search interest for "quantum computing bitcoin" rose alongside Bitcoin's rally to new highs, not preceding weakness. Furthermore, Bitcoin's price showed positive correlation with quantum computing stocks like IONQ and QBTS during the drawdown, suggesting a shared macro risk-off driver rather than a specific quantum catalyst. NYDIG concludes that Bitcoin's recent drawdown is more consistent with a broader repricing of risk across long-duration assets than with any discrete technological threat.
