Bitcoin’s search popularity on Google has surged almost 5,000% in the week to January 8, following the Iran crisis.

According to Google Trends, the search for “Bitcoin Iran” increased 4,450% worldwide in the first week of the year.

The search for “Bitcoin” also registered a substantial rise across the world, up to a normalised score of 100 on Wednesday, compared to 40 last week.

The highest search figures for both terms were registered in Nigeria. There was also significant interest for the “Bitcoin Iran” search in Canada, Singapore and the United States.

As per a Coin Telegraph report, these latest figures come at a time when Bitcoin – the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation – continues to make considerable price advances, with weekly gains surpassing 15%.

Bitcoin’s performance was immediately associated with the events in Iran, claiming geopolitical uncertainty tends to result in price hikes.

According to a report in the Nikkei Asian Review: “Free from state interference or geopolitical risk, #cryptocurrencies become ‘digital gold’ amid rising #Iran tensions.”

This was echoed by deVere CEO and founder Nigel Green: “Bitcoin is living up to its reputation as ‘digital gold’. Bitcoin - which shares gold’s characteristics of being a store of value and scarcity and its perceived resistance to inflation – could potentially dethrone gold in the future as the world becomes increasingly digitalised.

“The serious concerns created by geopolitical issues, such as the U.S.- Iran issue, amongst others, will likely prompt an increasing number of institutional and retail investors to diversify their portfolios and hedge against those risks by investing in crypto assets.

“This will push the price of Bitcoin higher. In turn, due to the influence of Bitcoin, other major digital currencies will receive a price boost.”