Get Hawaii’s latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You
Hawaii is among the most crypto-obsessed states
HONOLULU (KHON2) – Despite crypto interest being at an all-time low, Hawaii is among the top 10 states still obsessed with digital currency, according to a new study. Financial website AtoZMarkets.com found that interest is over 80 times lower than the peak in early November 2021; analysis of Google Trends data also revealed that crypto interest in the past 12 months has reached an all-time low.
The study looked at which states still have their crypto obsession intact, despite the drop in online interest.
Each state was given an overall score determined by the top crypto-oriented search terms of the past 12 months, including “bitcoin” and “cryptocurrency.” California was ranked as having the highest interest in crypto with a score of 675, followed by Nevada and New York. Hawaii was ranked the seventh most crypto-obsessed state with a total score of 548, according to the study.
Top 10 Most Crypto-Obsessed States
| State | Crypto | Bitcoin | Ethereum | Dogecoin | Cryptocurrency | NFT | Coin base | Total score |
| 1. California | 100 | 92 | 100 | 100 | 83 | 100 | 100 | 675 |
| 2. Nevada | 91 | 100 | 84 | 87 | 87 | 89 | 79 | 617 |
| 3. New York | 83 | 75 | 92 | 91 | 78 | 89 | 94 | 602 |
| 4. New Jersey | 89 | 81 | 90 | 91 | 81 | 77 | 83 | 592 |
| 5. Florida | 84 | 89 | 75 | 89 | 80 | 77 | 82 | 576 |
| 6. Washington | 77 | 79 | 79 | 87 | 76 | 76 | 88 | 562 |
| 7. Hawaii | 90 | 93 | 80 | 69 | 97 | 77 | 42 | 548 |
| 8. Utah | 82 | 71 | 70 | 76 | 69 | 69 | 81 | 518 |
| 9. Massachusetts | 74 | 76 | 81 | 67 | 65 | 77 | 75 | 515 |
| 10. Oregon | 73 | 73 | 82 | 77 | 66 | 71 | 71 | 513 |
To see the full list, click here.
Hawaii’s crypto market almost took its last breath after House bill 2108 was postponed indefinitely at the beginning of May. The bill would have established a program to license, regulate and supervise digital currency companies in the state. Failing that, the Digital Currency Innovation Lab was scheduled to close for transactions on June 30 for both businesses and consumers.
So on June 2, a two-year extension of DCIL was announced. The news was a sigh of relief for the cryptocurrency companies participating in the pilot program. They can continue to do business in Hawaii without first having to obtain a state money transmitter license, at least until June 30, 2024.
Check out more news from around Hawaii
Those who choose to withdraw from the program must follow the terms of the DCIL and complete procedures that begin on July 1 and end on December 31.
