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COVID-19 pandemic and the safe haven property of Bitcoin

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  • Raheem, Ibrahim D.

Abstract

The commentaries in the literature point out that cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin, provide safe haven features to investors. The advent of COVID-19 pandemic offers a perfect opportunity to test this hypothesis. This study tries to validate this claim by examining the safe haven prowess of Bitcoin against measures of uncertainty (VIX, EPU, and Oil Shock). We further make a comparison between pre-and post-COVID-19 analyses. Results confirm that prior to COVID-19, Bitcoin was able to maintain its widely acknowledged characteristics. However, the post COVID-19 announcement upturned the tides previously identified.

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  • Raheem, Ibrahim D., 2021. "COVID-19 pandemic and the safe haven property of Bitcoin," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 370-375.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:81:y:2021:i:c:p:370-375
    DOI: 10.1016/j.qref.2021.06.004
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    Cited by:

    1. Su, Chi-Wei & Yang, Shengjie & Qin, Meng & Lobonţ, Oana-Ramona, 2023. "Gold vs bitcoin: Who can resist panic in the U.S.?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    2. Feng, Hao & Gao, Da & Duan, Kun & Urquhart, Andrew, 2023. "Does Bitcoin affect decomposed oil shocks differently? Evidence from a quantile-based framework," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. 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).
    4. Kamal, Javed Bin & Wohar, Mark & Kamal, Khaled Bin, 2022. "Do gold, oil, equities, and currencies hedge economic policy uncertainty and geopolitical risks during covid crisis?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. N.S. Al-Nassar & Sabri Boubaker & A. Chaibi & B. Makram, 2023. "In Search of Hedges and Safe Havens during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Gold versus Bitcoin, Oil, and Oil Uncertainty," Post-Print hal-04435437, HAL.
    6. Kuan-Min Wang & Yuan-Ming Lee, 2023. "Are life insurance futures a safe haven during COVID-19?," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-27, December.
    7. Ghorbali, Bassem & Kaabia, Olfa & Naoui, Kamel & Urom, Christian & Slimane, Ikrame Ben, 2023. "Wheat as a hedge and safe haven for equity investors during the Russia–Ukraine war," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PC).
    8. Apergis, Nicholas & Mustafa, Ghulam & Malik, Shafaq, 2023. "The role of the COVID-19 pandemic in US market volatility: Evidence from the VIX index," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 27-35.
    9. Kliber, Agata, 2022. "Looking for a safe haven against American stocks during COVID-19 pandemic," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    10. Raza, Syed Ali & Khan, Komal Akram & Guesmi, Khaled & Benkraiem, Ramzi, 2023. "Uncertainty in the financial regulation policy and the boom of cryptocurrencies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    11. Chen, Meichen & Qin, Cong & Zhang, Xiaoyu, 2022. "Cryptocurrency price discrepancies under uncertainty: Evidence from COVID-19 and lockdown nexus," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    12. Al-Nassar, Nassar S. & Boubaker, Sabri & Chaibi, Anis & Makram, Beljid, 2023. "In search of hedges and safe havens during the COVID─19 pandemic: Gold versus Bitcoin, oil, and oil uncertainty," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 318-332.
    13. Bejaoui, Azza & Mgadmi, Nidhal & Moussa, Wajdi, 2022. "On the relationship between Bitcoin and other assets during the outbreak of coronavirus: Evidence from fractional cointegration analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    14. Möller, Rouven & Reichmann, Doron, 2023. "COVID-19 related TV news and stock returns: Evidence from major US TV stations," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 95-109.
    15. Kyriazis, Nikolaos & Papadamou, Stephanos & Tzeremes, Panayiotis & Corbet, Shaen, 2023. "The differential influence of social media sentiment on cryptocurrency returns and volatility during COVID-19," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 307-317.
    16. Kai Meng & Khalid Khan, 2024. "Is cryptocurrency Efficient? A High-Frequency Asymmetric Multifractality Analysis," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 63(6), pages 2225-2246, June.
    17. Anwer, Zaheer & Farid, Saqib & Khan, Ashraf & Benlagha, Noureddine, 2023. "Cryptocurrencies versus environmentally sustainable assets: Does a perfect hedge exist?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 418-431.
    18. Ştefan Cristian Gherghina & Liliana Nicoleta Simionescu, 2023. "Exploring the asymmetric effect of COVID-19 pandemic news on the cryptocurrency market: evidence from nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag approach and frequency domain causality," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-58, December.
    19. Aloui, Donia & Zouaoui, Riadh & Rachdi, Houssem & Guesmi, Khaled & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2024. "The impact of ECB’s Quantitative Easing on cryptocurrency markets during times of crisis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bitcoin; Safe haven; COVID-19; Uncertainty;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General
    • G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General

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