IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v69y2024ipbs1544612324012200.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cryptocurrencies as a vehicle for capital exodus: Evidence from the Russian–Ukrainian crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Kreuzer, Christian
  • Laschinger, Ralf
  • Priberny, Christopher
  • Benninghoff, Sven

Abstract

Cryptocurrencies provide an escape from the conventional financial system and its regulations and could therefore become increasingly popular in the midst of geopolitical uncertainties. We analyze the linkage of the Russia–Ukraine conflict and the trading volume of 16 major cryptocurrencies via event study methodologies, based on a geopolitical risk index. The results show that the trading volume of most cryptocurrencies is positively affected by the events of the conflict. This is especially true for payment tokens and most utility coins. Interestingly, stablecoins show only fewer trading volumes before the actual event. Among utility tokens, Ripple in particular is positively influenced.

Suggested Citation

  • Kreuzer, Christian & Laschinger, Ralf & Priberny, Christopher & Benninghoff, Sven, 2024. "Cryptocurrencies as a vehicle for capital exodus: Evidence from the Russian–Ukrainian crisis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(PB).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:69:y:2024:i:pb:s1544612324012200
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2024.106191
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612324012200
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2024.106191?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. Dirk G. Baur & Brian M. Lucey, 2010. "Is Gold a Hedge or a Safe Haven? An Analysis of Stocks, Bonds and Gold," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 217-229, May.
    2. Matkovskyy, Roman & Jalan, Akanksha & Dowling, Michael, 2020. "Effects of economic policy uncertainty shocks on the interdependence between Bitcoin and traditional financial markets," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 150-155.
    3. Dario Caldara & Matteo Iacoviello, 2022. "Measuring Geopolitical Risk," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(4), pages 1194-1225, April.
    4. Wu, Shan & Tong, Mu & Yang, Zhongyi & Derbali, Abdelkader, 2019. "Does gold or Bitcoin hedge economic policy uncertainty?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 171-178.
    5. Fang, Libing & Bouri, Elie & Gupta, Rangan & Roubaud, David, 2019. "Does global economic uncertainty matter for the volatility and hedging effectiveness of Bitcoin?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 29-36.
    6. 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).
    7. Wilko Bolt & Maarten R.C. Van Oordt, 2020. "On the Value of Virtual Currencies," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(4), pages 835-862, June.
    8. Ammous, Saifedean, 2018. "Can cryptocurrencies fulfil the functions of money?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 38-51.
    9. Klein, Tony, 2024. "Investor behavior in times of conflict: A natural experiment on the interplay of geopolitical risk and defense stocks," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 294-313.
    10. Paul P Momtaz, 2020. "Initial Coin Offerings," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-30, May.
    11. Demir, Ender & Gozgor, Giray & Lau, Chi Keung Marco & Vigne, Samuel A., 2018. "Does economic policy uncertainty predict the Bitcoin returns? An empirical investigation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 145-149.
    12. Baur, Dirk G. & McDermott, Thomas K., 2010. "Is gold a safe haven? International evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1886-1898, August.
    13. Yhlas Sovbetov, 2018. "Factors Influencing Cryptocurrency Prices: Evidence from Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash, Litcoin, and Monero," Journal of Economics and Financial Analysis, Tripal Publishing House, vol. 2(2), pages 1-27.
    14. Bouri, Elie & Gupta, Rangan & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Roubaud, David, 2017. "Does Bitcoin hedge global uncertainty? Evidence from wavelet-based quantile-in-quantile regressions," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 87-95.
    15. Suraj Velip & Mrunali Jambotkar, 2024. "Asymmetric volatility of the US dollar index in the stock and cryptocurrency market during the Russia-Ukraine war," International Journal of Banking, Accounting and Finance, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 14(1), pages 97-112.
    16. Alina Sorescu & Nooshin L. Warren & Larisa Ertekin, 2017. "Event study methodology in the marketing literature: an overview," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 186-207, March.
    17. Khalfaoui, Rabeh & Gozgor, Giray & Goodell, John W., 2023. "Impact of Russia-Ukraine war attention on cryptocurrency: Evidence from quantile dependence analysis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    18. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    19. Yousaf, Imran & Abrar, Afsheen & Yousaf, Umair Bin & Goodell, John W., 2024. "Environmental attention and uncertainties of cryptocurrency market: Examining linkages with crypto-mining stocks," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    20. Kreppmeier, Julia & Laschinger, Ralf & Steininger, Bertram & Dorfleitner, Gregor, 2023. "Real Estate Security Token Offerings and the Secondary Market: Driven by Crypto Hype or Fundamentals?," Working Paper Series 23/6, Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Real Estate and Construction Management & Banking and Finance.
    21. Aysan, Ahmet Faruk & Demir, Ender & Gozgor, Giray & Lau, Chi Keung Marco, 2019. "Effects of the geopolitical risks on Bitcoin returns and volatility," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 511-518.
    22. Będowska-Sójka, Barbara & Demir, Ender & Zaremba, Adam, 2022. "Hedging Geopolitical Risks with Different Asset Classes: A Focus on the Russian Invasion of Ukraine," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    23. Yousaf, Imran & Pham, Linh & Goodell, John W., 2023. "The connectedness between meme tokens, meme stocks, and other asset classes: Evidence from a quantile connectedness approach," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    24. Colon, Francisco & Kim, Chaehyun & Kim, Hana & Kim, Wonjoon, 2021. "The effect of political and economic uncertainty on the cryptocurrency market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    25. Glosten, Lawrence R & Jagannathan, Ravi & Runkle, David E, 1993. "On the Relation between the Expected Value and the Volatility of the Nominal Excess Return on Stocks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(5), pages 1779-1801, December.
    26. Poddar, Abhishek & Misra, Arun Kumar & Mishra, Ajay Kumar, 2023. "Return connectedness and volatility dynamics of the cryptocurrency network," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PB).
    27. Bouri, Elie & Gupta, Rangan & Lau, Chi Keung Marco & Roubaud, David & Wang, Shixuan, 2018. "Bitcoin and global financial stress: A copula-based approach to dependence and causality in the quantiles," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 297-307.
    28. Aalborg, Halvor Aarhus & Molnár, Peter & de Vries, Jon Erik, 2019. "What can explain the price, volatility and trading volume of Bitcoin?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 255-265.
    29. Hudson, Robert & Urquhart, Andrew & Zhang, Hanxiong, 2020. "Political uncertainty and sentiment: Evidence from the impact of Brexit on financial markets," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    30. Li, Xiang & Su, Dan, 2020. "How does economic policy uncertainty affect corporate debt maturity?," IWH Discussion Papers 6/2020, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    31. Panagiotidis, Theodore & Stengos, Thanasis & Vravosinos, Orestis, 2019. "The effects of markets, uncertainty and search intensity on bitcoin returns," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 220-242.
    32. Fisch, Christian & Momtaz, Paul P., 2020. "Institutional investors and post-ICO performance: an empirical analysis of investor returns in initial coin offerings (ICOs)," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    33. Anneke Kosse & Marc Glowka & Ilaria Mattei & Tara Rice, 2023. "Will the real stablecoin please stand up?," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 141.
    34. Borgonovo, Emanuele & Caselli, Stefano & Cillo, Alessandra & Masciandaro, Donato & Rabitti, Giovanni, 2021. "Money, privacy, anonymity: What do experiments tell us?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    35. Kreppmeier, Julia & Laschinger, Ralf & Steininger, Bertram I. & Dorfleitner, Gregor, 2023. "Real estate security token offerings and the secondary market: Driven by crypto hype or fundamentals?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    36. Wu, Wanshan & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Gozgor, Giray & Leping, Huang, 2021. "Does economic policy uncertainty affect cryptocurrency markets? Evidence from Twitter-based uncertainty measures," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    37. Isaac Appiah-Otoo, 2023. "The Impact of the Russia-Ukraine War on the Cryptocurrency Market," Asian Economics Letters, Asia-Pacific Applied Economics Association, vol. 4(1), pages 1-5.
    38. Singh, Sanjeet & Bansal, Pooja & Bhardwaj, Nav, 2022. "Correlation between geopolitical risk, economic policy uncertainty, and Bitcoin using partial and multiple wavelet coherence in P5 + 1 nations," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    39. Shahzad, Syed Jawad Hussain & Bouri, Elie & Roubaud, David & Kristoufek, Ladislav & Lucey, Brian, 2019. "Is Bitcoin a better safe-haven investment than gold and commodities?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 322-330.
    40. Gozgor, Giray & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Demir, Ender & Akron, Sagi, 2019. "The relationship between Bitcoin returns and trade policy uncertainty," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 75-82.
    41. Al Mamun, Md & Uddin, Gazi Salah & Suleman, Muhammad Tahir & Kang, Sang Hoon, 2020. "Geopolitical risk, uncertainty and Bitcoin investment," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 540(C).
    42. Wang, Gang-Jin & Xie, Chi & Wen, Danyan & Zhao, Longfeng, 2019. "When Bitcoin meets economic policy uncertainty (EPU): Measuring risk spillover effect from EPU to Bitcoin," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    43. Baur, Dirk G. & Hong, KiHoon & Lee, Adrian D., 2018. "Bitcoin: Medium of exchange or speculative assets?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 177-189.
    44. Foued Hamouda & Imran Yousaf & Muhammad Abubakr Naeem, 2024. "Exploring the Dynamics of Equity and Cryptocurrency Markets: Fresh Evidence from the Russia–Ukraine War," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 64(6), pages 3555-3576, December.
    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. Singh, Sanjeet & Bansal, Pooja & Bhardwaj, Nav, 2022. "Correlation between geopolitical risk, economic policy uncertainty, and Bitcoin using partial and multiple wavelet coherence in P5 + 1 nations," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    2. Ben Nouir, Jihed & Ben Haj Hamida, Hayet, 2023. "How do economic policy uncertainty and geopolitical risk drive Bitcoin volatility?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    3. Wüstenfeld, Jan & Geldner, Teo, 2022. "Economic uncertainty and national bitcoin trading activity," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    4. Mokni, Khaled & Youssef, Manel & Ajmi, Ahdi Noomen, 2022. "COVID-19 pandemic and economic policy uncertainty: The first test on the hedging and safe haven properties of cryptocurrencies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    5. Khaled Mokni & Elie Bouri & Ahdi Noomen Ajmi & Xuan Vinh Vo, 2021. "Does Bitcoin Hedge Categorical Economic Uncertainty? A Quantile Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, May.
    6. Jiang, Yonghong & Wu, Lanxin & Tian, Gengyu & Nie, He, 2021. "Do cryptocurrencies hedge against EPU and the equity market volatility during COVID-19? – New evidence from quantile coherency analysis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Conlon, Thomas & Corbet, Shaen & McGee, Richard J., 2020. "Are cryptocurrencies a safe haven for equity markets? An international perspective from the COVID-19 pandemic," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    8. Elsayed, Ahmed H. & Gozgor, Giray & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2022. "Volatility and return connectedness of cryptocurrency, gold, and uncertainty: Evidence from the cryptocurrency uncertainty indices," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB).
    9. Almeida, José & Gaio, Cristina & Gonçalves, Tiago Cruz, 2024. "Crypto market relationships with bric countries' uncertainty – A wavelet-based approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    10. Mokni, Khaled, 2021. "When, where, and how economic policy uncertainty predicts Bitcoin returns and volatility? A quantiles-based analysis," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 65-73.
    11. Svetoslav Borisov, 2024. "Bitcoin – Hedge or Speculative Asset: Analysis of Its Role and Nature," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 5, pages 148-170.
    12. Simran, & Sharma, Anil Kumar, 2023. "Asymmetric impact of economic policy uncertainty on cryptocurrency market: Evidence from NARDL approach," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    13. Ahmed, Walid M.A., 2022. "Robust drivers of Bitcoin price movements: An extreme bounds analysis," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    14. Aharon, David Y. & Demir, Ender & Lau, Chi Keung Marco & Zaremba, Adam, 2022. "Twitter-Based uncertainty and cryptocurrency returns," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    15. Gök, Remzi & Bouri, Elie & Gemici, Eray, 2022. "Can Twitter-based economic uncertainty predict safe-haven assets under all market conditions and investment horizons?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    16. Elsayed, Ahmed H. & Gozgor, Giray & Lau, Chi Keung Marco, 2022. "Risk transmissions between bitcoin and traditional financial assets during the COVID-19 era: The role of global uncertainties," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    17. Elie Bouri & Rangan Gupta & Xuan Vinh Vo, 2022. "Jumps in Geopolitical Risk and the Cryptocurrency Market: The Singularity of Bitcoin," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(2), pages 150-161, February.
    18. 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).
    19. Beckmann, Joscha & Geldner, Teo & Wüstenfeld, Jan, 2024. "The relevance of media sentiment for small and large scale bitcoin investors," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    20. Będowska-Sójka, Barbara & Górka, Joanna & Hemmings, Danial & Zaremba, Adam, 2024. "Uncertainty and cryptocurrency returns: A lesson from turbulent times," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Decentralized finance; Cryptocurrencies; Event study; Sentiment; GJR-GARCH regressions; Russian–Ukrainian crisis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G40 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - General
    • F51 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Conflicts; Negotiations; Sanctions

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:finlet:v:69:y:2024:i:pb:s1544612324012200. 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/frl .

    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.