Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) social interest has crashed to 2018 levels, with crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen saying the apathy in the market right now matches that bear market almost exactly.
Why Cowen Is Comparing 2026 To 2018?
Cowen said in a YouTube video that Bitcoin’s social interest reading sits at roughly 0.25 right now, the same level from 2018 and well below the 0.5 reading from the last bear market.
The price structure runs the same parallel. Bitcoin found support at $6,000 in 2018 and is holding support at $60,000 in 2026.
Chart created via ChatGPT.
Both years saw a low in February, a sweep of that low in late June, lower highs in May, and higher lows in late March and early April.
Cowen said the 2018 analog stays his base case until the data proves otherwise. “Frankly, there are dozens of us left at this point,” he said.
How Bad Is The Engagement Drop Across Platforms?
The social interest metric Cowen tracks pulls from Google Trends, the Coinbase app ranking, YouTube views, YouTube subscribers, and follower counts across analysts, exchanges, and layer one projects on X. Every single component is near multi-year lows.
The scale of the decline is hard to ignore:
| Platform / Metric | 2021 Peak | July 2026 | Decline |
| YouTube Views (Major Crypto Channels) | 3-4 million/day | ~358,000/day | ~91% |
| YouTube Subscriber Growth | 50,000-60,000/day | ~285/day | ~99.5% |
| Analyst X Follower Growth | >100,000/day | ~4,000/day | ~96% |
| Layer 1 Project X Follower Growth | >100,000/day | ~8,000/day | ~92% |
Cowen said the drop spans every platform, ruling out YouTube-specific changes as the cause.
What This Means For Altcoins?
Cowen tied the social collapse directly to Bitcoin dominance rising and altcoins failing to rotate.
The advance-decline index of the top 100 cryptocurrencies has been trending down since 2021.
Many altcoins never put in new all-time highs during the last Bitcoin rally and are now trading below their 2022 lows.
His explanation is straightforward: there was no altcoin rotation because there was no one left to rotate into them. Bitcoin dominance excluding stablecoins has continued trending higher for the same reason.
Cowen said he expects social interest to continue falling before it bottoms, with a potential low forming sometime in the next six to twelve months.
He framed the current period as one where the remaining participants need to hold through the apathy before any new cycle can build a foundation.
Photo via Shutterstock
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