This study aims that Bitcoin prices are considered as dependent variables, and the total number of Coronavirus cases in the world, Ethereum Prices, Gold Prices, Coronavirus Google Trend Index, and Crypto Money Google Trend Index are considered as independent variables. Using the ARDL model, it was analyzed with a daily data set between 21.01.2020 - 04.04.2020. It is concluded that the relationship between the variables included in the analysis and Bitcoin prices exists co-integrated in the long term. Within the framework of the findings, investors' fears were interpreted by associating them with Bitcoin and Covid-19.
Abstract The Covid-19 emergency is demonstrating the need to follow new solutions that can support the important role played by non-profit organizations around the world. Contrary to what should have happened to further combat the effect of pandemic, the majority of philanthropic organisations had a negative impact on fundraising, suffering a substantial decrease. Today, the Blockchain can play a pivotal role to re-establish pre-pandemic standards and enhance the development of global philanthropy. However, it is still too little considered due to the criticalities encountered during the launch and development of the initiatives as well as for a general incomprehension of its technology. Therefore, this work aims to demonstrate the Blockchain impact on the development of charity 4.0, especially in an extremely dramatic historical moment marked by the Covid-19 pandemic. The objective is achieved through the case study of Charity Wall, an emerging Italian social marketplace appreciated by important business associations for its innovative solutions in the charity 4.0 sector and for the important support provided to NPOs during their traditional function as well as against Covid-19 in Italy. Through a benchmark analysis, this work succeeds in highlighting the innovative solutions proposed by Charity Wall compared to the charity 4.0 systems on the market. More specifically, through the Charity Wall case study it is possible to demonstrate which aspects of Blockchain technology can be used to strengthen the philanthropic system by avoiding cases of fraud to the detriment of beneficiaries, receivers and donors as well as to create a closer network between the various philanthropic players to support charitable initiatives against the Covid-19.
Muhammad Abubakr Naeem, Saba Sehrish, Mabel D. Costa
Purpose This study aims to estimate the time–frequency connectedness among global financial markets. It draws a comparison between the full sample and the sample during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The study uses the connectedness framework of Diebold and Yilmaz (2012) and Barunik and Krehlik (2018), both of which consider time and frequency connectedness and show that spillover is specific to not only the time domain but also the frequency (short- and long-run) domain. The analysis also includes pairwise connectedness by making use of network analysis. Daily data on the MSCI World Index, Barclays Bloomberg Global Treasury Index, Oil future, Gold future, Dow Jones World Islamic Index and Bitcoin have been used over the period from May 01, 2013 to July 31, 2020. Findings This study finds that cryptocurrency, bond and gold are hedges against both conventional stocks and Islamic stocks on average; however, these are not “safe havens” during an economic crisis, i.e. COVID-19. External shocks, such as COVID-19, strengthen the return connectedness among all six financial markets. Research limitations/implications For investors, the study provides important insights that during external shocks such as COVID-19, there is a spillover effect, and investors are unable to hedge risk between conventional stocks and Islamic stocks. These so-called safe haven investment alternatives suffer from the similar negative impact of systemic financial risk. However, during an external shock such as COVID-19, cryptocurrencies, bonds and gold can be used to hedge risk against conventional stocks, Islamic stocks and oil. Moreover, the findings imply that by engaging in momentum trading, active investors can gain short-run benefits before the market processes any new information. Originality/value The study contributes to the emergent literature investigating the connectedness among financial markets during the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides evidence that the return connectedness among six global financial markets, namely, conventional stocks, Islamic stocks, bond, oil, gold and cryptocurrency, is extremely strong. From a methodological standpoint, this study finds that COVID-19 pandemic shock has a significant short-run impact on the connectedness among financial markets.
Health equity is a very important part of social equity. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) in a short period of time exposed the problems existing in the allocation of medical resources and the response to major public health emergencies in China. By using Kernel density estimation and Data envelopment analysis (DEA), it is found that the allocation and imbalance of medical resources in China are greatly different among regions, and the polarization phenomenon is obvious. As an important part of the information technology system, blockchain technology is characterized by decentralization and non-tampering. It can realize sharing of medical resources through a mechanism of resource storage, circulation, supervision, and protection. The construction of a medical resource sharing mechanism under the condition of blockchain technology will greatly improve the degree of medical resource sharing, will narrow the differences in resource allocation between regions, and can effectively respond to an outbreak of major public health emergencies.
This study explores the return and volatility spillovers between S&P 500 and cryptocurrencies [Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH)] during the pre-COVID-19 period and COVID-19 period using the VAR–BEKK–AGARCH model on hourly data. Furthermore, this study also quantifies the optimal portfolio weights and hedge ratios during both sample periods. The findings of study show that the return and volatility spillovers between the US stock and cryptocurrency markets are not significant during the pre-COVID-19 period. However, the study finds unidirectional return transmission from S&P 500 to all the cryptocurrencies during the COVID-19 period. During the COVID-19 period, the volatility spillover is unidirectional from S&P 500 to Litecoin, whereas the volatility transmissions are not significant for the pairs of S&P 500–Bitcoin and S&P 500–Ethereum. Based on optimal weights, the portfolio managers are recommended to slightly decrease their investments in S&P 500 for the portfolios of S&P 500/BTC, S&P 500/ETH and S&P 500/LTC during the COVID-19 period. Finally, during the COVID-19 period, all hedge ratios were found to be higher, implying higher hedging costs during the COVID-19 period compared to the pre-COVID-19 period. Our research offers valuable insights to the fund managers, investors and policymakers regarding diversification opportunities, hedging, optimal asset allocation and risk management.
Cross-contamination, counterfeit ingredients, false packaging, and labelling are all issues that contribute to food fraud which is a major concern undermining the integrity of the food supply chain and consumers health. Therefore, there is a need for an on-demand traceable, transparent food supply chain. This is a universal problem and blockchain presents itself as a means to maintain traceable, transparent food supply. This paper presents an innovative consensus algorithm and simulates the usage of it to identify the precision and recall of fraudulent food detection. This protocol aims to solve the issue of malicious leader node selection in common voting-based consensus protocols while achieving efficiency. Thus, providing a single version of truth for foods in a long food supply chain, preventing information asymmetries.
Deni Memić, Selma Skaljic Memic, Mohamed Noor Saifuddin Mohamed Noor Saif Almehairi
We observe the relationship and causality between cryptocurrencies on one, and commodities, currencies, equity indexes and web search results on the other side. We use prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum for cryptocurrencies, prices of crude oil and gold for commodities, Euro-US Dollar, Euro-Swiss Franc exchange rates for currencies, Dow Jones Industrial Average for market index and Google Trends® data as a measure of worldwide web search results for cryptocurrencies of interest. We find that Bitcoin and web search results correlation went from highly positive to low negative during the COVID-19 period. The results of the study show that the price of Bitcoin and Ethereum can be modelled using different combinations of commodities, currencies, indexes and web search results, with web search results and Dow Jones Industrial Average exhibiting best predictive power both concurrently and one day in advance. Our best performing models were able to explain more than 95% and 90% of Bitcoin and Ethereum price variability respectively. We also find strong evidence of web search traffic impacting both Bitcoin and Ethereum prices at all tested lags, as well as some evidence of gold impact on Bitcoin and EUR/CHF impact on Ethereum.
In this study, it was investigated whether the Covid-19 pandemic, which started to affect the world in early 2020, influenced the relationship between return volatility and trading volume in the cryptocurrency market. In the empirical part of the study, 40 cryptocurrencies were included in the analysis. The data were divided into two separate periods as before and during the pandemic. Two alternative estimators developed by Garman and Klass (1980) and by Rogers and Satchell (1991) were used to measure the return volatility of cryptocurrencies. With causality and simultaneous correlation analyses, it was determined that the sequential information arrival hypothesis was valid in the cryptocurrency market in the pre-pandemic period. In the pandemic period, the sequential information arrival hypothesis lost its effect and left its place to the mixture of distribution hypothesis.
Didik Gunawan, Mangasi Sinurat, Lukito Cahyadi, Rico Nur Ilham
This study aims to examine the dynamic relationship between the JKSE, S&P 500, gold prices, and bitcoin prices after WHO declared Covid-19 a global pandemic. The data used is daily data from March to November 2020 which follows trading days in the Indonesian capital market. Furthermore, this research uses VAR modelling to see how the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the relationship between the JCI, S&P 500, gold prices and bitcoin prices. The results showed that in the short term the S&P 500 has a positive and significant effect on JKSE, but in the long run it has no significant positive effect, in the long run the gold price has a negative and significant effect on JKSE and vice versa has no effect in the short term, both in the long term and in the short-term bitcoin has a negative and significant effect on JKSE. This research also shows that apart from gold, bitcoin has also become a safe haven for investors.
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.
Bitcoin is the primary cryptocurrency in the world that can be stored and traded through the internet. Digital contracts and cryptocurrencies created on blockchains have now been used in exchanging instruments on the networks and are available online readily. This paper's main objective is to investigate the causal relationship between bitcoin prices and rupee-US dollar exchange during COVID-19. The study used the Granger causality model to study the price behaviour of bitcoin and the rupee-dollar exchange rate. The study found an unidirectional Granger causality existed, where the rupee-US dollar exchange rate affected the bitcoin price in the Indian market during COVID-19. The bitcoins are widely considered as an investment asset in Indian markets, and the rupee-dollar exchange rate has a significant impact on the bitcoin prices.
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.
Muhammad Abubakr Naeem, Imen Mbarki, Muhammad Tahir Suleman, Xuan Vinh Vo · 5 authors
Abstract We examine the predictive ability of Twitter Happiness Sentiment for six major cryptocurrencies using daily data from August 7, 2015 to December 31, 2019. At first instance, our results conclude a significant nonlinear relationship between Twitter Happiness Sentiment and cryptocurrencies. The nonlinear dependence structure is further enhanced when using the quantile‐on‐quantile (QQ) analysis, which indicates that high and low sentiment predicts returns of five cryptocurrencies. These findings are statistically and economically significant.