IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v194y2020ics016517652030238x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Any port in a storm: Cryptocurrency safe-havens during the COVID-19 pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Corbet, Shaen
  • Hou, Yang (Greg)
  • Hu, Yang
  • Larkin, Charles
  • Oxley, Les

Abstract

Controlling for the polarity and subjectivity of social media data based on the development of the COVID-19 outbreak, we analyse the relationships between the largest cryptocurrencies and such time-varying realisation as to the scale of the economic shock centralised within the rapidly-escalating pandemic. We find evidence of significant growth in both returns and volumes traded, indicating that large cryptocurrencies acted as a store of value during this period of exceptional financial market stress. Further, cryptocurrency returns are found to be significantly influenced by negative sentiment relating to COVID-19. While not only providing diversification benefits for investors, results suggest that these digital assets acted as a safe-haven similar to that of precious metals during historiccrises.

Suggested Citation

  • Corbet, Shaen & Hou, Yang (Greg) & Hu, Yang & Larkin, Charles & Oxley, Les, 2020. "Any port in a storm: Cryptocurrency safe-havens during the COVID-19 pandemic," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:194:y:2020:i:c:s016517652030238x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109377
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016517652030238X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109377?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Corbet, Shaen & Hou, Yang & Hu, Yang & Lucey, Brian & Oxley, Les, 2021. "Aye Corona! The contagion effects of being named Corona during the COVID-19 pandemic," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    2. Gandal, Neil & Hamrick, JT & Moore, Tyler & Oberman, Tali, 2018. "Price manipulation in the Bitcoin ecosystem," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 86-96.
    3. Bollerslev, Tim, 1986. "Generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 307-327, April.
    4. Corbet, Shaen & Meegan, Andrew & Larkin, Charles & Lucey, Brian & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2018. "Exploring the dynamic relationships between cryptocurrencies and other financial assets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 28-34.
    5. Corbet, Shaen & Larkin, Charles & Lucey, Brian, 2020. "The contagion effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from gold and cryptocurrencies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    6. Goodell, John W., 2020. "COVID-19 and finance: Agendas for future research," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    7. Sean Foley & Jonathan R Karlsen & Tālis J Putniņš, 2019. "Sex, Drugs, and Bitcoin: How Much Illegal Activity Is Financed through Cryptocurrencies?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 1798-1853.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peng‐Fei Dai & John W. Goodell & Luu Duc Toan Huynh & Zhifeng Liu & Shaen Corbet, 2023. "Understanding the transmission of crash risk between cryptocurrency and equity markets," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 58(3), pages 539-573, August.
    2. Zhang, Dingxuan & Sun, Yuying & Duan, Hongbo & Hong, Yongmiao & Wang, Shouyang, 2023. "Speculation or currency? Multi-scale analysis of cryptocurrencies—The case of Bitcoin," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    3. Guo, Xiaochun & Lu, Fengbin & Wei, Yunjie, 2021. "Capture the contagion network of bitcoin – Evidence from pre and mid COVID-19," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    4. Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Kang, Woo-Young & Spagnolo, Fabio & Spagnolo, Nicola, 2021. "Cyber-attacks, spillovers and contagion in the cryptocurrency markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Xu, Yingying & Lien, Donald, 2022. "COVID-19 and currency dependences: Empirical evidence from BRICS," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    6. Ali, Fahad & Sensoy, Ahmet & Goodell, John W., 2023. "Identifying diversifiers, hedges, and safe havens among Asia Pacific equity markets during COVID-19: New results for ongoing portfolio allocation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 744-792.
    7. Corbet, Shaen & Hou, Yang (Greg) & Hu, Yang & Larkin, Charles & Lucey, Brian & Oxley, Les, 2022. "Cryptocurrency liquidity and volatility interrelationships during the COVID-19 pandemic," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    8. Bampinas, Georgios & Panagiotidis, Theodore, 2024. "How would the war and the pandemic affect the stock and cryptocurrency cross-market linkages?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PA).
    9. Kyriazis, Nikolaos & Papadamou, Stephanos & Corbet, Shaen, 2020. "A systematic review of the bubble dynamics of cryptocurrency prices," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    10. Corbet, Shaen & Hou, Yang & Hu, Yang & Oxley, Les, 2020. "The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on asset-price discovery: Testing the case of Chinese informational asymmetry," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    11. Yarovaya, Larisa & Brzeszczyński, Janusz & Goodell, John W. & Lucey, Brian & Lau, Chi Keung Marco, 2022. "Rethinking financial contagion: Information transmission mechanism during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    12. Conlon, Thomas & McGee, Richard, 2020. "Safe haven or risky hazard? Bitcoin during the Covid-19 bear market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    13. Tarchella, Salma & Khalfaoui, Rabeh & Hammoudeh, Shawkat, 2024. "The safe haven, hedging, and diversification properties of oil, gold, and cryptocurrency for the G7 equity markets: Evidence from the pre- and post-COVID-19 periods," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(PB).
    14. Abrar, Afsheen & Naeem, Muhammad Abubakr & Karim, Sitara & Lucey, Brian M. & Vigne, Samuel A., 2024. "Shining in or fading out: Do precious metals sparkle for cryptocurrencies?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    15. Corbet, Shaen & Lucey, Brian & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2021. "Bitcoin-energy markets interrelationships - New evidence," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    16. Brada, Josef C. & Gajewski, Paweł & Kutan, Ali M., 2021. "Economic resiliency and recovery, lessons from the financial crisis for the COVID-19 pandemic: A regional perspective from Central and Eastern Europe," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    17. Sharif, Arshian & Aloui, Chaker & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2020. "COVID-19 pandemic, oil prices, stock market, geopolitical risk and policy uncertainty nexus in the US economy: Fresh evidence from the wavelet-based approach," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    18. Costantini, Mauro & Maaitah, Ahmad & Mishra, Tapas & Sousa, Ricardo M., 2023. "Bitcoin market networks and cyberattacks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 630(C).
    19. Guglielmo Maria Caporale & Woo-Young Kang, 2020. "Bitcoin Price Co-Movements and Culture," CESifo Working Paper Series 8076, CESifo.
    20. Vidal-Tomás, David, 2021. "Transitions in the cryptocurrency market during the COVID-19 pandemic: A network analysis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:194:y:2020:i:c:s016517652030238x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.