Blanka Łęt, Konrad Sobański, Wojciech Świder, Katarzyna Włosik
Stablecoins are a relatively recent phenomenon in the cryptocurrency market, gaining prominence particularly since 2018. These digital currencies are usually pegged to nonvolatile underlying assets, offering a solution to the problem of the high price volatility of nonstable cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Therefore, stablecoins seem attractive to participants in the cryptocurrency market, especially in times of turmoil. This paper aims to measure the spillover effect of shocks in volatile cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and the Cryptocurrencies Index) on the activity of investors in the stablecoin market (Tether, USD Coin, Binance USD, DAI, Paxos, Huobi USD, and Gemini USD). Using the spectral representation of variance decomposition, the paper measures the strength of the spillover effect and investigates whether the cryptocurrency market processes information rapidly or slowly. The results suggest that shocks in the volatile cryptocurrency market moderately drive the popularity of stablecoins. The spillover effects on stablecoin popularity are short-lived, as they are observed mostly within up to 3 days of the shock. The findings indicate that investors use stablecoins as safe haven assets after bad news in the volatile cryptocurrency market; however, they react more strongly to news related to individual cryptocurrencies and not so intensively to the general sentiment in the cryptocurrency market. Investors with larger capital are more resistant to shocks.
Maaz Khan, Maaz Khan, Umar Nawaz Kayani, Mrestyal Khan · 7 authors
Across the globe, COVID-19 has disrupted the financial markets, making them more volatile. Thus, this paper examines the market volatility and asymmetric behavior of Bitcoin, EUR, S&P 500 index, Gold, Crude Oil, and Sugar during the COVID-19 pandemic. We applied the GARCH (1, 1), GJR-GARCH (1, 1), and EGARCH (1, 1) econometric models on the daily time series returns data ranging from 27 November 2018 to 15 June 2021. The empirical findings show a high level of volatility persistence in all the financial markets during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the Crude Oil and S&P 500 index shows significant positive asymmetric behavior during the pandemic. Apart from this, the results also reveal that EGARCH is the most appropriate model to capture the volatilities of the financial markets before the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas during the COVID-19 period and for the whole period, each GARCH family evenly models the volatile behavior of the six financial markets. This study provides financial investors and policymakers with useful insight into adopting effective strategies for constructing portfolios during crises in the future.
The uniqueness of this investigation lies in empirically testing and proving the contagion spillover of Bitcoin attention to carbon futures. Specifically, several models are adopted to investigate the explanatory and predictive abilities of Bitcoin attention to carbon futures. The results can be generalized as follows. First, Bitcoin attention Granger causes the variation of carbon futures. Second, Bitcoin attention shows a negative impact on carbon futures and an addition, an invert U-shaped connection exists. Third, the Bitcoin attention-based models can beat the commonly used historical average benchmark during out-of-sample forecasting both in statistical and economic levels. Fourth, we complete robustness checks to certify that the contagion spillover from Bitcoin attention to the pricing of carbon futures does exist. Finally, we prove the linear and non-linear impacts from Bitcoin attention to realized volatility of carbon futures. All the results prove that Bitcoin attention is an important pricing factor for carbon futures market.
Yogesh K. Dwivedi, Janarthanan Balakrishnan, Ronnie Das, Vincent Dutot
Blockchain research is significantly growing, yet the practical implementation of blockchain among retailers is still in the novice stage. This research aims to study the underlying factors that build resistance toward blockchain among retailers. The study has used innovation resistance theory (IRT) and the dynamic capability model to build the conceptual model. The study used a single cross-sectional design to investigate the proposed model with data collected from 360 retailers. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling estimated with the maximum likelihood model. The study's results showed that the threat of data ownership is the most significant factor that builds resistance towards blockchain, followed by threat severity. The results also showed that managerial capability and innovation capability could indirectly influence the relationship of IRT variables to resistance towards blockchain. The research extends the knowledge in the blockchain and contributes to relevant literature and business practitioners concerned with the results.
The pandemic that hit the world in 2020 has left unforeseeable consequences for the entire world economy. Bitcoin and gold are currencies whose prices have risen despite the crisis period. The results of the research, using Spearman's correlation coefficient, showed a statistically significant relationship between the movement of the price of bitcoin and the price of gold, which can be the basis for predicting the movement of the price of gold in the future, based on the movement of the price of bitcoin. A significant relationship was found between the movement of the bitcoin price and the increase in the number of users of bitcoin wallets, which clearly indicates an increase in the volume of trade in this currency and a wider representation of this currency. Theoretical research of behavioral economics has confirmed the hypothesis that when the financial system is exposed to a crisis, bitcoin and gold will have the characteristics of a "safe haven asset" which can be explained by the principles of behavioral economics.
This paper studies the impact of financial decentralization on innovation activities in China based on the perspective of "finance-innovation". Using the data of China's industrial enterprises above designated size in 30 provinces from 2000 to 2019, this paper verifies the relationship between financial decentralization and innovation, reach conclusions that: Financial decentralization plays a significant role in promoting China's innovation ability; Financial decentralization has obvious regional heterogeneity, which has a positive effect on the improvement of innovation ability in the eastern and central regions with high economic development level, and a negative effect in the western regions.Meanwhile, it's found that the local financial decentralization is more obvious when the industrial structure is more perfect, and the financial decentralization contributes to the improvement of the local industrial structure.In the future, each region should choose the best degree of financial decentralization according to its different financial characteristics, and rationally use it to help local industrial innovation, to promote high-quality economic development.
The Covid-19 pandemic affected financial markets in several ways, influencing the dynamics of the relationships between asset classes. We investigate the connectedness between cryptocurrencies and international energy markets from 2018 to 2021 using the time-varying parameter vector autoregression approach. Net total directional connectedness suggests that the cryptocurrency and energy indexes had heterogeneous roles. Bitcoin and Ripple coin were the net receivers of shocks, while Ethereum switched from receiver to transmitter. The US energy market was a persistent net transmitter of shocks, while Asian energy markets were consistent net shock receivers. Pairwise connectedness reveals that cryptocurrencies can explain the volatility of the energy markets during the difficult period of the pandemic at the beginning of 2020. We provide insights for portfolio optimization and policy implications.
Ming Li, Wenyu Zhang, Meng Yang, Hongyong Liu · 7 authors
In the process of green power trading, green power reflects the value of electricity energy and green environment, and green certificates aim to reduce the pressure of new energy subsidies and guide the concept of green electricity consumption. In order to promote the integration of new energy through market-oriented mechanisms, ensure the basic income of new energy projects, reflect the environmental value of green electricity, promote the sustainable development of the new energy industry, and meet the needs of users for green electricity at the same time, this paper constructs a blockchain-based green electricity environmental value authentication and circulation method by using the characteristics of blockchain centralization, distributed ledger, consensus mechanism, and smart contract.
Shinta Amalina Hazrati Havidz, Ni Putu Indah Rahmadani, Priscilla Laura Aditya Tori
This research was conducted to determine whether gold and cryptocurrency (i.e., Bitcoin) can be used as safe haven assets for oil, wheat, stock index (SI), government bond (GB), Islamic stock (IS), and Islamic bond (IB) during the Russia-Ukraine war. We used panel quantile regression by utilizing extreme lower quantiles (i.e., 1%, 2.5%, 5%). It will only be recognized as a safe haven asset if it is negatively correlated with another asset during extreme adverse shocks. The data spans from 23 February 2021 – 25 July 2022 which covered the five largest economies in Europe and Asia (i.e., Germany, France, the UK, China, and Japan). The findings indicate that gold only acted as a safe haven asset for wheat, SI, and IS during the Russia-Ukraine war. Additionally, Bitcoin only serves as a safe haven asset for oil, wheat, SI, and GB during the Russia-Ukraine war.
This research paper explores the relationship between the global economic policy uncertainty index (GEPU) and Ethereum price.By employing the Hodrick-Prescott Filter Decomposition, the price of Ethereum is decomposed into a trend component, which reflects the increasingly wide usage, and the cyclical component, which shows its character as a safe haven asset and a speculative financial asset.By examining the relationship between the GEPU and the cyclical component of Ethereum, I find that GEPU Granger causes cyclical Ethereum, and they have a cointegration relationship.Their error correction models also demonstrate that cyclical Ethereum responds in the short-run to changes in GEPU and deviations from long-run equilibrium.The dynamics make the cyclical Ethereum converge towards their long-run equilibrium relationship.
We employ a novel framework to measure the asymmetric nexus between the cryptocurrency market and the carbon futures market based on different market conditions. Specifically, we use a quantile-on-quantile regression (QQR) approach to explore the correlation between cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple) and European Union Allowance (EUA) futures. We find that there is an asymmetric relationship between markets that is affected by different cryptocurrencies and market conditions. Overall, Bitcoin or Ethereum are positively correlated with the carbon market, while the results of Ripple are more complex. Under certain conditions, EUA futures can be a better hedge against cryptocurrency risk.
Environmental externalities from cryptomining may be large, but have not been linked causally to mining incentives. We exploit daily variation in Bitcoin price as a natural experiment for an 86 megawatt coal-fired power plant with on-site cryptomining. We find that carbon emissions respond swiftly to mining incentives, with price elasticities of 0.69-0.71 in the short-run and 0.33-0.40 in the longer run. A $1 increase in Bitcoin price leads to $3.11-$6.79 in external damages from carbon emissions alone, well exceeding cryptomining's value added (using a $190 social cost of carbon, but ignoring increased local air pollution). As cryptomining requires ever more computing power to mine a given number of blocks, our study highlights both the revitalization of US fossil assets and the potential value of financial industry accounting standards that incorporate cryptomining externalities.
This study estimates the environmental impacts of Bitcoin mining. Employing a top-down measurement approach, this paper assesses the carbon footprint of Bitcoin mining in China from 2017 to 2021. The findings reveal that mining activities during this period contributed to a total of 77.84 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in China. By utilizing data at the provincial level, we find that the seasonal migration of Bitcoin mining pools will lead to regional power demand shocks in China. Additionally, this study predicts future carbon emissions from Bitcoin mining in China, projecting cumulative carbon dioxide emissions of 76.40 million tons and 722.18 million tons by 2030 and 2060 respectively, in the absence of any policy interventions. Based on these findings, this paper posits that governments worldwide should make efforts to restrict the carbon emissions from Bitcoin mining and opt for environmentally friendly technological methods to fundamentally alleviate Bitcoin's reliance on energy. The implication for central banks is that carbon emission should be taken into consideration when designing the central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
This study examines dynamic connectedness linkages between precious metals, manufacturing metals, oil, natural gas, and Bitcoin. The Quantile-VAR methodology is utilised to identify causal spillovers from 2015 through 2022, where results demonstrate significantly stronger pairwise connectedness at extreme quantiles, where the gold-silver and copper-oil pairs exhibit the strongest linkages. Additionally, the overall dynamic connectedness is higher at the lowest and highest quantiles, particularly reinforced during inflationary periods. Copper is identified as the strongest generator of spillovers, followed by silver, nickel, and zinc. There are mixed findings when analysing gold and aluminium, whereas oil, natural gas, and Bitcoin are identified as net receivers. This study provides insight into commodities and cryptocurrency markets’ diversifying and hedging abilities during alternative economic and financial conditions.
Since the emergence of environmental federalism theory in the 1960s, the empirical research on it has been pursued by scholars, mainly focusing on whether a country’s environmental regulation should be centralized or decentralized. For a long time, countries have been actively exploring and putting environmental governance systems into practice for themselves, especially at present, in the face of multiple constraints of resources, environment, sustainable development power and other factors. How to build an appropriate environmental governance system and promote the level of green development by encouraging enterprises’ technological innovation is a practical problem to be solved urgently. Based on this, this paper constructs a new research framework of environmental decentralization—technological innovation—green total factor productivity (GTFP) and investigates the effect and mechanism of environmental decentralization on GTFP. The results show that environmental decentralization can reduce the quality of environmental information disclosure and inhibit the innovative output of enterprises, ultimately leading to the decrease of GTFP. Environmental decentralization has a spatial spillover effect on GTFP, which can promote GTFP in neighboring areas. This paper tries to enrich the research results of traditional environmental federalism theory, the “Porter Hypothesis”, and growth pole theory, and it provides a solution to enterprises’ financing constraint problem.
A K Das, Aryan Ramachandran, Ayush Thombare, Swarali Ghangurde
This paper examines the relationship between green bonds and cryptocurrencies that specifically follow the Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism. A lot has been discussed about the positive bi-directional and asymmetric relationship between green bonds and bitcoins, the most widely known proof-of-work cryptocurrency and the ineffectiveness of green bonds as hedging instrument for bitcoins. In this study, the author has tried to check whether there is a relationship between green bonds and Proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies using the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). The secondary data under consideration is the daily data of the S&P Green Bond Index (SPGB) to track the performance of relevant green bonds and the daily data of Solana and Cardano to track the performance of Proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies. It is found that there exists a negative long-term relationship between green bonds and the selected cryptocurrencies. The author also conducts a portfolio analysis to demonstrate how green bonds function as a useful risk-diversification tool in conjunction with cryptocurrencies that follow the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.
With the continuous improvement of productivity, people's living standards have continued to rise, but the problem of income disparity has become increasingly serious. This article focuses on the income disparities in China's industry and study the impact of digital financial inclusion on the it. The income disparities between employees in 29 provinces in the China Statistical Yearbook was used for analysis, and the parameters were estimated by benchmark regression analysis. Based on the results of the study, it was found that digital financial inclusion had a large impact on the five decentralized industries selected. In view of these results, this paper analyzes the reasons and draws the reasons why digital finance has contributed to the reduction of the income gap in the industry.