Search
Close this search box.
3 minutes read

Cryptocurrencies’ Growing Influence

As reported in an earlier Stream Hatchet blog, the trend of cryptocurrencies continues to grow online. Live streaming sites, like Twitch, remain a popular forum to discuss the topic. The growth of online crypto-casinos has also pumped the mentions of cryptocurrencies on live streaming sites. Popular streamers like Trainwreckstv have held sponsored streams showcasing online gambling and, inevitably, generating chatter about the coins.

Additionally, Twitch’s “Crypto” category has seen major growth this year. Since January of this year, the category experienced over 10M hours watched, with over 2M of those hours in May alone. During that month, there was tons of buzz surrounding crypto. Elon Musk announced that Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin as payment. Plus, Chinese officials launched a crackdown on crypto use in the country.  

hours watched of Twitch's crypto category
Twitch’s “crypto” category hours watched | January 2021- July 2021

Today, Twitch announced a ban on affiliate links and referrals for online gambling. This comes after months of heavy criticism on the ethical responsibility live streaming platforms have in regards to promoting crypto. It has yet to be seen how this ban will affect streamers on Twitch who have been heavily involved in crypto-sponsored streams as the trend continues to grow its impact on mainstream culture.

Here are the top 3 cryptos by Twitch chat mentions during July 2021:

Bitcoin

bitcoin is the most mentioned cryto across Twitch chats

Bitcoin is widely considered the face of cryptocurrency and the trend-setter for fellow crypto. Even Twitch began to accept Bitcoin as a form of donation currency. This led to a streamer receiving $200,000 in Bitcoin donations during a stream in May.

Bitcoin has had such a cultural impact over the past few years, it has its very own Twitch category, separate from crypto. Since January of 2020, the Bitcoin Twitch category has generated over 506K hours watched. A majority of the viewership was experienced in 2021 with the rise of Stake.com sponsored streams that last for hours

Twitch’s Bitcoin category by hours watched | January 2020 – July 2021

Although more crypto has been introduced since Bitcoin’s creation, it still reigns as the leader of crypto with a solid 188K Twitch chat mentions.

Axie Infinity

axie infinifty is the second most mentioned cryto across Twitch chats

Launched in 2018, Axie Infinity is a popular NFT blockchain game inspired by the massively successful Pokemon game series. Players can collect, raise, battle, and trade digital pets, called Axies. As of August 2021, Axie is one of the top three most popular gaming DApps by user counts — with over 100,000 unique weekly users. 

Since the start of 2021, Axie Infinity has generated over 4M hours watched across live-streaming platforms. Many financial analysts are looking to Axie as the future of gaming and crypto, with a focus on play-to-earn instead of free-to-play. 

Axie Infinity hours watched | January 2021 – July 2021

Axie Infinity is on its way to mainstream popularity with over 45K Twitch chat mentions in July.

Dogecoin

dogecoin is the third most mentioned crypto across Twitch chats

If Bitcoin is the face of crypto, Dogecoin is the face of meme coins. Created as a joke based on the 2013 Doge meme, the crypto gained mainstream popularity when Elon Musk began promoting the crypto on his Twitter. Since January 2021, Dogecoin has generated over 1.5K stream titles across Twitch, Youtube Gaming, and Facebook Gaming. 431 of those stream titles occurred during May when Elon Musk hosted SNL and joked that crypto was “a hustle.”

dogecoin stream titles
Stream titles containing dogecoin | January – July 2021

On October 9th, the first-ever Dogecoin festival, Dogepalooza, will take place. The festival will celebrate the community of Dogecoin by bringing fans together. Additionally, there’s talk of superfan Elon Musk using Dogecoin as the primary currency for his SpaceX and Geometric Energy Corporation (GEC) partnership project which allows advertisers to place ads in space.

While meme coins continue to rise in value and popularity, Dogecoin leads the movement with over 20K Twitch chat mentions during July. 

THE INDUSTRY STANDARD FOR LIVE STREAM MEASUREMENT

Stream Hatchet’s focused on connecting real time data to trends across the gaming world, with the goal of maximizing content insights across the video games and esports industry. Our new Pro platform is robustly built with the key tools for running marketing activations on live streaming platforms.

Stream Hatchet’s Pro platform can:

  • Track game trends and evaluate what platforms the viewership is coming from
  • Query stream titles or chat messages for easy ROI analysis and footprint
  • Provide rankings of all esports events and associated channel viewership

Ready to enhance your go-to marketing strategy with Stream Hatchet? Get started with a free trial.

Weekly newsletter

No spam. Just the latest releases and tips, interesting articles, and exclusive interviews in your inbox every week.

Read about our Privacy Policy

More about it

More data. More power.

Start using the power of Stream Hatchet and join the hundreds of companies that use us every day to get the best industry information.

Related Videos

We create industry-unique reports for your information