The latest Bitcoin bull run feels different.

Scratch that. Every bitcoin bull run feels different, as each cycle brings with it fresh narratives and new blood. But there’s one element that’s always been consistent throughout Bitcoin’s history, and that’s retail interest in buying into freedom tech and f**k you money. Well, Bitcoin to the moon rallies, at least.

Retail is sitting this Bitcoin bull run out

Remember retail? Because all I hear is crickets…

Literally zero taxi drivers, no friends’ cousins twice-removed, or kindergarten teachers asking if it’s too late to buy. Despite some analysts’ conviction about Alt Season revving up, I haven’t even been asked about Fartcoin, Dogecoin, or Ripple, and I have a pretty good templated answer to the latter, if you’d like to borrow.

Anyway, the point here is this: retail is sitting this Bitcoin bull run out, and it can’t be because of a lack of awareness. This time it’s different. Somewhere between the Bitcoin ETFs, presidential pumps, and Larry Fink taking over at the WEF, retail decided this game was no longer for them.

Dare I say it? Bitcoin’s just no fun anymore, or maybe retail got so badly burned last time around they finally learned not to play with fire. No one’s even casually searching for news: Google Trends for Bitcoin isn’t even grazing a mild peak next to Japanese walking and Labubu dolls.

That no one uses Google to search for anything anymore could arguably be a factor in this, but still, the silence from distant relatives and service workers is palpable.

100 days over $100K

You would hardly even notice that the number-one crypto has spent 100 consecutive days above $100k; a psychological feat, a generational inflection point. Each time Bitcoin has leapfrogged a major round number ($100, $1,000, $10,000), it has ushered in a new era of adoption, investment, and hockey-stick price action.

Yet, this time around, nobody cares.

Not only is Bitcoin sustaining celestial highs and carving out new all-time tops, but its technical backbone is strengthening. Bitcoin’s 200-day moving average crossed above $100,000, a powerful signal for traders and long-term holders alike.

In every Bitcoin bull run, breaking and holding above historic resistance on both price and moving averages has preceded periods of continued momentum. But retail is nowhere to be found.

This cycle has even flushed out some of the longest-standing Bitcoin whales, making way for the same corrosive institutions that Bitcoin was meant to abhor.

Crypto in your 401k

2025 has also seen a quantum shift in retirement planning with Bitcoin and other cryptos being legally allowed in mainstream retirement accounts, opening direct access for tens of millions of Americans to accumulate hard money for their futures.

But retail couldn’t care less.

They’ve packed their bags all the way to the virtual Bahamas and said “Let’s sit this one out.” And while Bitcoin has arguably morphed from a speculative trade to a staple of retirement portfolios and institutional diversification, retail’s absence feels incredibly sad.

Bitcoin trades above $110,000 today, while Google Trends data for “bitcoin” sits at 38.

This afternoon, a Midtown Manhattan barista will glance at a phone ticker showing $110,630. He’ll shrug and keep steaming milk.

The mood lines up with the data as searches for the word have stayed in the low-40 band for months, the same range seen when Bitcoin cost under $30,000.

Perhaps we’re now entering “FIAMO,” short for fear I already missed out.

Big money is moving instead. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust regularly brings in multiple times more than miners create. Bitwise chief Hunter Horsley noted the contrast. “Public interest, especially among ordinary investors, has substantially dropped,” he told FinanceFeeds, “even as price rockets to fresh highs.”

Numbers back FIAMO Narrative

Exchange volume numbers back the FIAMO narrative as Coinbase cleared $78 billion in retail trades during the first quarter of 2025, barely half the average seen in 2021.

The exchange saw explosive growth in 2021 as retail activity ballooned more than 7-fold versus 2020, mirroring the overall crypto bull run. Then, crypto winter hit retail hardest, volumes fell 69% in 2022 and another 55% in 2023.

In 2024, a rebound in prices, approval of U.S. spot-Bitcoin ETFs, and improved market sentiment drove retail volume up 195 % year-on-year. Now, Q1 2025 retail spot volume is down from the exceptional Q4 2024 but still above any quarter in 2023, helped by Bitcoin’s new all-time highs early in the year.

People can’t or won’t buy a whole coin, and many still feel that fractions look like scraps.

While unit bias is just arithmetic, it is very powerful psychologically. Exchanges push to “buy $10 of BTC,” yet a six-figure sticker keeps newcomers frozen. Owning 0.001 BTC feels small, even though it equals the full spot price of 2013. Until wallets talk in satoshis, that mental block will linger.

Also, memories of the 2022 wipe-out still sting, with many awaiting redemptions or having lost considerable sums. FTX, Celsius, and Three Arrows vanished in weeks, erasing life savings and confidence. Many small traders promised themselves they would never chase parabolic charts again. That promise now shows up in every flat search curve.

Veteran desks say the lull will not last as capital that flows through ETFs often filters into broader retail channels later, once friends and family notice the gains on retirement statements. A similar lag followed the gold-ETF boom in 2005. So the next wave may arrive with a gentler face, automatic paycheck purchases rather than late-night leverage.

However, pension funds in Wisconsin won’t see the gains anymore after it sold all of its Bitcoin ETF holdings for a considerable profit.

Still, quiet search charts have fooled the crowd before. In past cycles, the Google curve peaked months after price highs, once headlines seeped through to casual investors. If history rhymes, FIAMO could flip back to plain old FOMO.

Politics and Bitcoin

Politics now also adds another layer to the Bitcoin and crypto Zeitgeist. President Donald Trump believes that “Our country must be the leader in the field” and is a staunch Bitcoin proponent, aiming to roll out a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The shift in Trump’s attitude to Bitcoin turns Bitcoin from a rebel asset to a state resource, a shift that can’t help but dull the thrill for some weekend traders, especially those outside the US with a ‘less than favorable’ view of the man.

Within Trump’s MAGA base, more focus is given to Official TRUMP memecoins and World Liberty Financial stablecoins than to Bitcoin. Trump voters aren’t buying Bitcoin en masse, though they are cheering on the government turning Ross Ulbricht’s Bitcoin into a strategic reserve.

Aligning Bitcoin so closely with right-of-center politics is likely to negatively affect those on the other side of the political spectrum. However, I believe the blame for politicizing Bitcoin is bipartisan. Politicians who revile Trump’s broader policies should compartmentalize Bitcoin from those issues.

Bitcoin has no party and no politics within the traditional financial system.

Until we are free from fiat, it is Bitcoin or nothing.

As Satoshi said,

“Maybe instead make it about the open source project and give more credit to your dev contributors; it helps motivate them.”

For now, the signals are plain: ETFs soak up supply, policy wraps bitcoin in reserve language, and Google’s trend line hardly moves.

The largest digital asset continues to smash all conceivable records while most onlookers barely look up.