Investigation of Coronavirus impact on Blockchain and cryptocurrencies markets

Abstract

Coronavirus had a tremendous global economic impact due to mistrust and reduced consumption. Especially in China, the country from which the infection started and which presents more than 90,000 infections on March 4th, the global economy has been experiencing the first sharp economic contraction since 1970. On February 24 th 2020, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1800 points. Blockchain development communities designed and launch a new cryptocurrency called CoronaCoin. This research aims to study and identify whether users' mood and sentiment may affect CoronaCoin price. For this reason, two official CoronaCoin communities of two popular social media platforms, i.e. Telegram and Reddit, were analysed. Through the novel usage of the Hawkes models, we found that users of these social media platforms may affect Coronacoin's behaviour based on their sentiment, with significant price changes.