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How “crypto” trended on Hacker News

“Crypto” was mentioned 154,681 times on Hacker News between 2007 and 2026, peaking in Oct 2022 with 5,006 that month.

Every month from 2007 to 2026, counting how often “crypto” appears in Hacker News stories and comments. Each point is a live date-histogram over ~45M items, computed with Upstash Redis Search.

Total mentions
154,681
Peak month
Oct 2022 (5,006)
First seen
2007
2008201120142017202020232026
Explore “crypto” in the interactive tool — filter by date, sort, and compare against other terms →

What the chart shows

The term crypto spans both cryptography and cryptocurrency on Hacker News, appearing from 2007 and totaling 154,681 lifetime mentions — one of the highest here. The curve peaks in October 2022 with 5,006 mentions, during the FTX collapse and broader market turmoil.

Reflecting the dual meaning, top threads cover cryptography topics — NSA-related stories, post-quantum work, and the CIA’s Crypto AG operation — alongside cryptocurrency disillusionment like “I wasted years of my life in crypto.” The term stayed active through 2026.

Top Hacker News stories about “crypto”

  1. 1.Trevor Perrin requests removal of NSA from IETF Crypto Review 1,056 points · 140 comments · 2013 · discuss on HN
  2. 2.How is NSA breaking so much crypto? 1,005 points · 246 comments · 2015 · discuss on HN
  3. 3.NSA, NIST, and post-quantum crypto: my second lawsuit against the US government 974 points · 443 comments · 2022 · discuss on HN
  4. 4.How the CIA used Crypto AG encryption devices to spy on countries for decades 962 points · 330 comments · 2020 · discuss on HN
  5. 5.Crypto 101 – Introductory course on cryptography 919 points · 140 comments · 2016 · discuss on HN
  6. 6.I wasted years of my life in crypto 691 points · 1,007 comments · 2025 · discuss on HN
  7. 7.Crypto exchange AAX suspends withdrawals 666 points · 810 comments · 2022 · discuss on HN
  8. 8.Experts cracked laptop of crypto CEO who died with $137M, but the money was gone 649 points · 331 comments · 2019 · discuss on HN
  9. 9.Protections Against Fingerprinting and Crypto Mining in Firefox Nightly and Beta 630 points · 238 comments · 2019 · discuss on HN
  10. 10.Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing? 627 points · 629 comments · 2022 · discuss on HN
  11. 11.Lavabit Defied FBI Demands to Turn Over Crypto Keys, Documents Show 592 points · 250 comments · 2013 · discuss on HN
  12. 12.How is NSA breaking so much crypto? (2015) 586 points · 257 comments · 2016 · discuss on HN

More to explore

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