Popularity of cryptocurrency exchanges and Forex is on the rise

Publication date: 13 Apr 2020

The COVID-19 outbreak has affected the way people consume online content. According to Qrator Labs—a company which specializes in DDoS attack mitigation—users, on the one hand, have become more interested in religious websites and cryptocurrency exchanges but, on the other hand, have started visiting websites of bookmaker agencies less often.

What online resources have gained popularity during the pandemic?

• In the last week of March, traffic volumes on religious websites increased by 30-500%.
• Video services, including piracy websites, were the most popular platforms among Russian users in the last week of March. Traffic volumes there grew by 5.32% compared to February’s average. This increase in popularity of video services was followed by a surge in online advertising (by 17.92%). Many people watch movies on piracy websites where a large number of video ads are placed.
• Popularity of cryptocurrency exchanges and Forex has been on the rise—traffic volumes grew by 5.56% and 3.13%, respectively. This can be explained by the fact that Russians show a keen interest in foreign exchange markets.
• Traffic volumes on websites of travel agencies, air and rail carries fell by 0.78%.
• A decrease has been observed in the healthcare sector—by 8.59%.
• Traffic volumes on real estate websites were down by 1.7%.
• Thematic and professional social networks lost 1.88% of traffic volumes.
• After key sporting events (from the Olympics to auto racing events) were cancelled or rescheduled, interest in sports betting services decreased by 4.92%.