Crypto vs. AI Jobs Search Trends

Emerging technological trends have a captivating effect on the general public as well as industry experts. Web3’s emergence and its subsequent cryptocurrency boom in 2020-2021 brought about a new era of decentralized applications (dApps), protocols, and ecosystems. Yet, the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has now surpassed the once-dominant crypto narrative.

This study examines Google Trends data pertaining to AI and crypto jobs, as a way to measure interest in these sectors pertaining to finding employment. By comparing search interest for these two subjects, we determine relative interest levels and identify notable trends.

‘AI Jobs’ Search Interest 4X Higher than ‘Crypto Jobs’ at Peak

According to Google Trends data, search interest in ‘AI jobs’ peaked 4 times higher than ‘crypto jobs’. The announcement of OpenAI's ChatGPT on November 30, 2022, and subsequent releases of Google Bard and Microsoft's investment in OpenAI, among other AI launches, has propelled the search interest for 'AI jobs' to soar. Its search interest score peaked at 124 on April 30, 2022, just 5 months after ChatGPT’s release. Search interest started to dwindle thereafter, but still remains 4 times higher than ‘crypto jobs’, as more industries and job seekers shift focus to the advancing AI sector.

Average search interest in ‘AI jobs’ was 3 times higher than ‘crypto jobs’ in 2020, up until the start of the crypto rally at the start of 2021. Fueled by the 2020-2021 cryptocurrency bull market, the crypto industry witnessed significant growth, resulting in an increase in ‘crypto jobs’ searches and related terms. Despite reaching its peak a few weeks after Bitcoin's (BTC) all-time high of $69,044.77 on November 10, 2023, ‘crypto jobs’ search interest remained considerably lower compared to 'AI jobs' at its peak, highlighting the more dominant and mainstream AI narrative with respect to potential job seekers.

The Rise of ‘Crypto Jobs’ Search Interest

Interest in ‘crypto jobs’ began to climb from January 2021, as major companies and thought leaders entered the space, drawing mainstream attention onto crypto. Venmo, MasterCard, and PayPal introduced cryptocurrency payment support, highlighting crypto as a viable payment method for everyday transactions. Since 2020, MicroStrategy began accumulating a large position in bitcoin, holding more than any other publicly traded company, and Square CEO Jack Dorsey announced his firm’s intentions on building a bitcoin mining system. The U.S. Bank introduced cryptocurrency custody services in 2021, and in September that same year, El Salvador became the first country globally to recognize bitcoin as legal tender.

The total crypto market cap surpassed $3 trillion for the first time on November 9, 2021, a day before Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) hit their all-time highs. At its peak score of 26 on both January 9 and 30, 2022, search interest in ‘Crypto Jobs’ surpassed ‘AI Jobs’, and was also 5 times higher than its baseline in January 2020.

‘Crypto Jobs’ Search Interest on the Decline

Search interest in 'crypto jobs' declined in tandem with an increasingly bearish crypto market sentiment, reaching a low score of 9 by December 25, 2022, marking a significant drop of -288% from its peak. This decline coincided with notable events such as the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and layoffs in prominent crypto exchanges and marketplaces like Crypto.com, Binance, Coinbase, and OpenSea.

Intensified regulatory scrutiny due to FTX’s collapse—such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuits against Coinbase and Binance—have contributed to waning interest in crypto overall, and hence, ‘crypto jobs’ as well. Despite this decline, current search interest remains slightly higher than the pre-2020-2021 bull market levels.

Top 10 Countries Most Interested in ‘Crypto Jobs’ (2023)

The top 10 countries most interested in ‘crypto jobs’, based on the total search score of Google Trends data, are as follows:

Singapore is the country most interested in ‘crypto jobs’, with a total search score of 181. Recognized as Asia’s crypto hub, the nation’s business-friendly climate has attracted billions in crypto funding, and has provided a favorable environment for companies like Crypto.com, Coinbase, and Blockchain.com to set up operations.

The United Arab Emirate’s (UAE) ranks second in ‘crypto jobs’ search interest, with a total search score of 159. Notably, many crypto firms have been shifting focus to the UAE with Binance, OKX, and Crypto.com receiving provisional licenses to operate, highlighting the country’s openness in crypto regulation.

Nigeria, with a score of 143, ranks third in ‘crypto jobs’ search interest. The country also emerged as the most crypto curious nation in a previous study conducted in 2022. Transferring money through traditional banks is costly in Nigeria, and cryptocurrency offers a cost-effective alternative. Nigerians also see cryptocurrencies as ‘a way to get around foreign currency restrictions’, according to the BBC.

With a total search score of 131 and 125 respectively, Pakistan and Kenya round off the top 5 countries most interested in cryptocurrency jobs followed by India, Canada, United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, and Nepal with scores of 83, 83, 81, 79, and 76 respectively.

Top 15 Countries Most Interested in ‘AI Jobs’ (2023)

Due to the surge in search interest after OpenAI’s ChatGPT launch, the top 15 countries most interested in ‘AI jobs’ were analyzed from November 30, 2023 onwards. According to Google Trends data, the top 15 countries most interested in ‘AI jobs’ are as follows:

Singapore is the country most interested in 'AI jobs', with a total search score of 185. This is unsurprising, given the nation's openness to technological advancements as seen in its government’s partnership with Google Cloud to accelerate adoption of AI tools in the country’s public sector.

Pakistan and Kenya are the second and third country most interested in 'AI jobs'. In May 2023, Pakistan’s Ministry of IT & Telecom announced a policy framework that aims to produce 1 million AI-trained IT graduates by 2027. Meanwhile, Kenya has seen an increase of companies in various sectors including agriculture, healthcare, and education, harnessing the power of AI technology.

Methodology

The study examined relative search interest for ‘crypto jobs’, ‘AI jobs’ and related respective terms, based on Google Trends data worldwide, from January 1, 2020 to June 18, 2023. For 'crypto jobs', data for search terms 'crypto jobs' and 'blockchain jobs' were used, and for 'AI jobs', data for search terms 'AI jobs' and 'jobs in AI' were used. Other related terms were considered for the study, but excluded due to insufficient data. 

To derive the top countries by search score rankings, search interest by region were taken for each term and tabulated correspondingly to form a total search interest score by region. Specifically for 'AI jobs', only data from November 30, 2022 onwards was used, due to the surge in search interest after OpenAI’s ChatGPT launch.

The study notes that the most widely used search engine for all locations may not be Google.

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Curious to find out more about our previous research studies? Check out this one we did on the top 20 countries interested in AI crypto.