If Martin Hildebrandt were around today he'd be dealing with a lot of bitcoin.
Hildebrandt, who emigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1846, is the first known professional tattoo artist in America.
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A veteran of the Civil War, Hildebrandt opened what is believed to be first American tattoo parlor in a tavern on Oak Street in Manhattan circa 1870.
Surge in Crypto Tattoo Searches
Things have changed a lot since Hildebrandt's day.
Over 145 million Americans have tattoos, according to the business and tech site Earthweb, and there are an estimated 21,000 tattoo parlors in the country
People spend $1.65 billion annually on tattoos and 92% of those who have a tattoo don’t regret getting it.
Hildebrandt tattooed a wide range of people during his time, but if he were living in this day and age a new study suggests that many of his clients would be hodlers.
Hodlers, of course, are crypto enthusiasts who "hold on for dear life" and refuse to sell their digital assets no matter what's going on in the market.
And that enthusiasm--insanity?--is being reflected in the world of body art, according to research by Bitcoin Casinos, which found that crypto tattoo searches on Google and Instagram are at an all-time high
Yes, seriously. Despite a seemingly non-stop assault of bankruptcy and scandal, searches for crypto tattoos have increased by 222% in the past year.
"Bitcoin tattoo" was the most searched crypto tattoo last month with 1,500 searches.
'#cryptotattoo" ranked #2 for Google searches, and #1 for Instagram post features.
String of Crypto Failures
People are searching for Dodgecoin and Ethereum tattoos but are less likely to commit to a tattoo right now, Bitcoin Casinos said.
Bear in mind that that recent months the crypto sector has been needled by such stunning disasters as the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and its sister company, Alameda Research and the arrest of its founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
Last year also witnessed the bankruptcies of crypto hedgefund Three Arrows Capital, crypto brokerage Voyager Digital, and the crypto lenders Celsius Network and BlockFi.
More recently, Silvergate Bank (SI), one of the few banks to embrace the crypto sphere, went out of business, suffering from its exposure to the numerous bankruptcies of crypto firms since last summer.
And SVB Financial Group (SIVB), the lender to Silicon Valley startups, failed on March 10, falling into the hands of the FDIC.
Bitcoin's price fell with the bank collapses, dropping below the psychological threshold of $20,000 at last check, according to Coingecko.
Judging from the latest news, it would seem that tattoo artists should probably be stocking up on red ink.
