The aim of this paper is to find out if the COVID-19 outbreak in the USA has a robust impact on the prices of cryptocurrencies. Inspired by the literature related to the determinants of cryptocurrency prices and based on data availability, six potential determinants of cryptocurrency prices and five proxies for the COVID-19 outbreak were selected. The impact of the COVID-19 outbreak was tested using two approaches of extreme bounds analysis and the robustness of our findings was further checked with different cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash). Our results show that new deaths from the COVID-19 have a robust positive impact on the price of cryptocurrencies while the impact of new confirmed cases, total cases, and total deaths is not robust. In line with previous studies, it is also found that economic uncertainty, stock, gold, and oil prices are robust determinants of the value of cryptocurrencies.
Ahmet Faruk Aysan, Ali Yavuz Polat, Hasan Tekin, Ahmet Semih Tunalı
This study aims to investigate the effect of fear sentiment with a novel data set on Bitcoin’s return, volatility and transaction volume. We divide the sample into two subperiods in order to capture the changing dynamics during the COVID-19 pandemic. We retrieve the novel fear sentiment data from Thomson Reuters MarketPsych Indices (TRMI). We denote the subperiods as pre- and post-COVID-19 considering January 13th, 2020, when first COVID-19 confirmed case was reported outside China. We employ bivariate vector autoregressive (VAR) models given below with lag-length k, to investigate the dynamics between Bitcoin variables and fear sentiment. Bitcoin market measures have dissimilar dynamics before and after the Coronavirus outbreak. The results reveal that due to the excessive uncertainty led by the outbreak, an increase in fear sentiment negatively affects the Bitcoin returns more persistently and significantly. For the post-COVID-19 period, an increase in fear also results in more fluctuations in transaction volume while its initial and cumulative effects are both negative. Due to extreme uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, investors may trade more aggressively in the initial phases of the shock.
Recent technological progresses made it possible for complementary and community currencies to be increasingly transformed into digital currencies. An increasing number of them run on blockchain, a technology that allows for greater decentralization and trust-less systems. This fusion between social and cryptocurrencies opens a series of questionings: can social currencies maintain their values regarding the creation of community and a fuller citizenship? Is the total decentralization an important value for the communities that use social currencies? Can "trust", as defined for these monetary systems be replaced by a system that presupposes it? These comprehensive questions conform our current research project. With an inductive and multidisciplinary plan of demonstration in mind, this particular document tries to put in discussion the characteristics and potentialities, as well as the problems, limits and tensions generated by the circulation of digital currencies that run on Blockchain (cryptocurrencies), leaving for future research the in-depth discussion that this new mixture of technologies brings up. These issues will be addressed by studying the case of a digital social currency system running on blockchain, based on mutual credit, implemented in Argentina today: MonedaPAR, which was conceived as a defense mechanism against the economic crisis that plagues Argentina since 2016.
Alexander Guzmán, Cristian Pinto‐Gutiérrez, María Andrea Trujillo Dávila
This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on Bitcoin trading volume. Using data from Apple mobility trends and several time-series econometric models, we find that investors became active participants during the COVID-19 pandemic period and traded more bitcoins on days with low mobility associated with lockdown mandates. These results remain robust after controlling for stocks and gold returns, the VIX index, and the level of attention and sentiment toward Bitcoin, as measured by Google search frequencies and the tone of Tweets discussing Bitcoin. These results suggest that when individual investors have ample free time on their hands, they trade cryptocurrencies as a pastime and use the Bitcoin market as a form of entertainment. Moreover, our results have important implications concerning investors’ herding behavior and overconfidence leading to noise trader risks and bubbles typically accompanied by high trading volume in cryptocurrency markets.
In this study we discuss the determinants of the BRICS and GCC stock market returns during the COVID-19 outbreak. We employ the OLS regression to discern how crypto-currencies, VIX, oil, GOLD prices, and the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths, affect the Gulf and BRICS stock markets. We find that Bitcoin and Ethereum can generate benefits from portfolio diversification and hedging strategies but not from safe haven strategies for Russia, Brazil, Abu-Dhabi, Bahrain, and Qatar financial investors during the COVID-19 outbreak. Our results reveal that Gold is neither hedge nor a safe haven but is only an effective diversifier for investors during the COVID-19 outbreak. The results indicated that among all the BRICS and GCC stock indexes, the expected volatility of the US stock market has an effect only on china and Kuwait financial markets. Finally, our results show that the growth rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases has a negative impact only on South Africa and Brazil stock market.
Abstract Through the application of the VAR-AGARCH model to intra-day data for three cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin), this study examines the return and volatility spillover between these cryptocurrencies during the pre-COVID-19 period and the COVID-19 period. We also estimate the optimal weights, hedge ratios, and hedging effectiveness during both sample periods. We find that the return spillovers vary across the two periods for the Bitcoin-Ethereum, Bitcoin-Litecoin, and Ethereum-Litecoin pairs. However, the volatility transmissions are found to be different during the two sample periods for the Bitcoin-Ethereum and Bitcoin-Litecoin pairs. The constant conditional correlations between all pairs of cryptocurrencies are observed to be higher during the COVID-19 period compared to the pre-COVID-19 period. Based on optimal weights, investors are advised to decrease their investments (a) in Bitcoin for the portfolios of Bitcoin/Ethereum and Bitcoin/Litecoin and (b) in Ethereum for the portfolios of Ethereum/Litecoin during the COVID-19 period. All hedge ratios are found to be higher during the COVID-19 period, implying a higher hedging cost compared to the pre-COVID-19 period. Last, the hedging effectiveness is higher during the COVID-19 period compared to the pre-COVID-19 period. Overall, these findings provide useful information to portfolio managers and policymakers regarding portfolio diversification, hedging, forecasting, and risk management.
In this paper, we discuss the behavior of stock market returns in Tunisia during the COVID-19 outbreak. Using the OLS regression, we find that Bitcoin act as a hedge and Ethereum as a diversifier for Tunisia’s stock market before the COVID-19 outbreak; however, Bitcoin and Ethereum cannot generate benefits from portfolio diversification and hedging strategies for financial investors during the COVID-19. Moreover, Dash, Monero, and Ripple act as hedges before the COVID-19 outbreak and as diversifiers during this pandemic. Our results reveal that gold acts as a hedge and diversifier before the pandemic, but it's neither hedge nor a haven during the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, the results indicated that the expected volatility of the US stock market has an impact on the Tunisian stock market. Finally, our results indicate that the growth rate of the COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths harms Tunisia's stock market.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the determinants of G7, and Chinese stock market returns during the COVID-19 outbreak. We find that Bitcoin and Ethereum can generate benefits from portfolio diversification and hedging strategies for G7 financial investors in early 2020. Our result reveals that Gold is neither hedge nor haven during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the results indicated that the expected volatility of the US stock market has no effect on the Japanese and Chinese financial markets. Finally, our results suggest that the growth rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths has an impact only on the US stock market.
This study aims to explore the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) effects on gold and bitcoin prices variabilities and on the relationship between each of them, both prices are denominated in USD.The study period is divided into two groups, first group included 120 workdays before 30 January 2020 when WHO first declared COIVD-19 outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern, and the second group included 120 observations post that date. The period as a total extends from June. 24, 2019 to 22 of May 2020.To this end, the study used the appropriate statistical tools including stationery and unit root test, Levene's test for the equality of variances, correlation, least squares regression, and pairwise Granger causality test.The results of testing the equality of variances and homogeneity between each of the study groups before and after COVID 19 revealed a strong rejection of the null hypothesis of equal variances for gold but not bitcoin which was accepted. The results also indicate a significant relationship between gold and bitcoin before and after COVID-19, but the sign changed from negative to positive respectively.Finally, the study concludes that there were significant effects of COIVD-19 on gold but not bitcoin prices. These results are consistent with gold’s traditional role as a safe-haven in crises, and bitcoin as a ‘virtual gold’ which has some similarities, and likely to be complementary rather than in a competion with gold.
This study examines the potential risk reducing benefits of Bitcoin against systemic risk in 28 countries from 2011-2020. The results indicate that Bitcoin provides a safe haven in times of extreme financial market volatility and during periods of financial crisis.
The purpose of this study is to reveal whether cryptocurrency and non-cryptocurrency investors are different in terms of financial threats. In order to measure financial threat, 5-Item Financial Threat Scale (FTS) is used. It is found that the Turkish version of a 5-Item Financial Threat Scale (FTS) is highly reliable, unidimensional and a valid instrument for measuring the financial threat. According to the analysis, non-cryptocurrency investors have a more significant financial threat than cryptocurrency investors. Moreover, it is investigated that the working sector difference is not a distinguishing factor for financial threat. It is found that financial threat is associated with age, level of education, and monthly income. On the other hand, it is obtained that gender and marital status are not affecting factors for financial threat.
Raja Wasim Ahmad, Khaled Salah, Raja Jayaraman, Ibrar Yaqoob · 6 authors
<div><b>Objectives: </b>Telehealth and telemedicine systems aim to deliver remote healthcare services to mitigate the spread of COVID‐19. Also, they can help to manage scarce healthcare resources to control the massive burden of COVID-19 patients in hospitals. However, a large portion of today's telehealth and telemedicine systems are centralized and fall short of providing necessary information security and privacy, operational transparency, health records immutability, and traceability to detect frauds related to patients' insurance claims and physician credentials.</div><div><b>Methods: </b>The current study has explored the potential opportunities and adaptability challenges for blockchain technology in telehealth and telemedicine sector. It has explored the key role that blockchain technology can play to provide necessary information security and privacy, operational transparency, health records immutability, and traceability to detect frauds related to patients' insurance claims and physician credentials.</div><div><b>Results: </b>Blockchain technology can improve telehealth and telemedicine services by offering remote healthcare services in a manner that is decentralized, tamper-proof, transparent, traceable, reliable, trustful, and secure. It enables health professionals to accurately identify frauds related to physician educational credentials and medical testing kits commonly used for home-based diagnosis.</div><div><b>Conclusions: </b>Wide deployment of blockchain in telehealth and telemedicine technology is still in its infancy. Several challenges and research problems need to be resolved to enable the widespread adoption of blockchain technology in telehealth and telemedicine systems.</div><div> </div><div><br></div>
The circumstances surrounding the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic have generated substantial international political strain as governments attempt to mitigate the widespread associated social and economic repercussions. One theory has focused on the potential for Chinese informational asymmetry. Using Chinese financial market data, we attempt to establish the scale and direction of information flows during multiple distinct phases of the development of the pandemic. Two specific results are identified. Firstly, the majority of domestically-traded Chinese stocks present evidence of significant information flows at a far earlier stage than internationally-traded comparatives, suggesting that domestic investors recognised the dangers associated with COVID-19 far in advance of the rest of the world. One potential explanation surrounds the view that the severity of domestically-reported Chinese news was not appropriately recognised by international investors. Secondly, while evidence of safe-haven and flight-to-safety behaviour is evident throughout traditional energy and precious metal markets, cryptocurrencies became informationally-synchronised with Chinese equity markets, indicating their use as an investor safe-haven. This is a particularly concerning outcome for international policy-maker and regulatory authorities due to the fragility of these developing markets.
Shaen Corbet, Yang Hou, Yang Hu, Les Oxley · 5 authors
Utilising Chinese-developed data based on long-standing influenza indices, and the more recently-developed coronavirus and face mask indices, we set out to test for the presence of volatility spillovers from Chinese financial markets upon a broad number of traditional financial assets during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such indices are used to specifically measure the performance of Chinese companies who are inherently involved in the R&D and production of materials and products used to mitigate and counteract the effects of influenza and coronavirus, therefore, such indices present a unique barometer of broad population-based sentiment relating to COVID-19 in comparison to traditional Chinese influenza. Within days of the formal announcement of the COVID-19 outbreak, results indicate exceptionally pronounced and persistent impacts of the coronavirus pandemic upon Chinese financial markets, compared to that of the traditional and long-standing influenza index. Further, in a novel finding to date, COVID-19 is found to have had a substantial effect on directional spillovers upon the Bitcoin market. Cryptocurrency-based confidence appears to have been instigated through government-developed education schemes, which are identified as one possible explanation for our results, which are found to remain robust across both data-frequency and methodological variation.
The purpose of this study was to analyse and understand the attitude of gender towards cryptocurrency. The questionnaire was formed to collect data about knowledge, experience, trust, and other investment factors of the gender towards cryptocurrency. This paper will be beneficial to the upcoming or existing companies of cryptocurrency to estimate their future viability based on gender. The research was also aimed to the detection of gender differences within the areas of awareness, investing, mining and paying with the cryptocurrencies. The research aimed to analyse the data collected and conclude the overall attitude of male/ female towards cryptocurrency. The findings confirmed the existence of gender differences in attitude towards crypto currencies, as the male respondents were more willing to use the crypto currencies in most of the cases.