What were people talking about most in August? To find out, we looked at Santiment’s data on popular words in social media posts. Here’s what we discovered about the hottest crypto topics of the month.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest in France made headlines as he faces serious charges. Meanwhile, the crypto market watched closely for announcements from the U.S. Federal Reserve and potential rate cuts in September that could impact the sector. Also, the rise of DOGS caused network congestion, and Bitcoiners criticized Kamala Harris’ possible support for the unrealized capital gains tax.
Pavel Durov’s Arrest and Ton
The arrest of Pavel Durov has become the most discussed crypto-related topic on social media. In August, the total social volume, or the total number of comments related to this topic, was over 224,000.
The CEO of Telegram was arrested at a Paris airport on Aug. 24. He faces 12 charges, including complicity in distributing child pornography, complicity in dealing drugs, and money laundering. He was released on a €5 million bail but is not allowed to leave France.
His arrest has led to worldwide discussions about digital privacy and the responsibility of digital tool creators for how their products are used. Many people on social media accused the French government of trying to invade personal conversations.
Inflation and Interest Rate
The second most popular topic crypto users discussed on social media in August was inflation data and the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) decision on interest rates. There were nearly 20,000 comments on social media related to this topic. Lower interest rates are often seen as good news for cryptocurrencies, as a rate cut can make higher-risk assets like crypto more attractive to investors.
On July 31, the Fed announced it would keep interest rates unchanged for the eighth consecutive time. Then, in mid-August, a new report on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed that inflation continued to slow down. Prices in July increased at a rate similar to what was seen before the pandemic, marking the slowest annual inflation rate since March 2021. This suggests the Fed might start cutting rates after its next meeting in mid-September.
Capital Gains Tax Proposal
In August, there were reports that if Kamala Harris were elected, she might back a proposed tax on unrealized capital gains suggested by Biden. This tax would apply to American taxpayers with over $100 million and is called the “billionaire tax.” The idea didn’t get much support from the crypto community on social media:
Let me be clear. If Kamala Harris somehow forces a 25% unrealized capital gains tax, the flight of capital out and subsequent collapse of the US markets would be absolutely breathtaking. And the ultimate result would be far lower tax revenues than we have right now.
— James Lavish (@jameslavish) August 28, 2024
DOGS and Pavel Durov, again
The launch of DOGS, “the most Telegram-native meme coin,” inspired by Durov’s pet dog Scotty, led to massive excitement and congestion on the TON network.
The official DOGS channel on Telegram quickly grew to nearly 17 million subscribers, and its account on X attracted 3.9 million users. The price of DOGS increased 21% after the news that Telegram CEO was released on €5 million bail. This surge in interest caused significant network issues. Many users reported problems with the Telegram Wallet due to the spike in activity as people rushed to claim their airdropped DOGS tokens.
How We Did the Analysis
We used the Trending Words Top 10 list published daily by Santiment. The platform collects data on comments across Telegram, X, Reddit, Bitcointalk, Youtube videos, 4chan, and Farcaster. It also provides context for each term, helping us understand how they were used. We combined similar words into broader topics and counted how often each topic appeared in the top 10 list. This allowed us to identify the most frequently mentioned topics in August. We also used Santiment queries to include social volume data, which is the number of comments containing at least one of the search terms.
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