IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/darddp/302552.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Cryptocurrencies and capital flows: Evidence from El Salvador's adoption of Bitcoin

Author

Listed:
  • Goldbach, Stefan
  • Nitsch, Volker

Abstract

This paper explores a monetary experiment, the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador in 2021, to analyze the impact of digital currencies on international capital flows. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find that, instead of making transfers easier, El Salvador's official cross-border financial activity has decreased after the monetary change. This finding may reflect an increase in uncertainty. However, it is also in line with findings that link digital assets to illegal activity as previously officially recorded financial transfers may have been replaced by unrecorded activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Goldbach, Stefan & Nitsch, Volker, 2024. "Cryptocurrencies and capital flows: Evidence from El Salvador's adoption of Bitcoin," Darmstadt Discussion Papers in Economics 247, Darmstadt University of Technology, Department of Law and Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:darddp:302552
    DOI: 10.26083/tuprints-00028016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/302552/1/1902099761.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.26083/tuprints-00028016?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eugenio Cerutti & Stijn Claessens & Andrew K. Rose, 2019. "How Important is the Global Financial Cycle? Evidence from Capital Flows," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 67(1), pages 24-60, March.
    2. Hites Ahir & Nicholas Bloom & Davide Furceri, 2022. "The world uncertainty index," CEP Discussion Papers dp1842, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. 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. Lars Hornuf & Paul P. Momtaz & Rachel J. Nam & Ye Yuan, 2023. "Cybercrime on the Ethereum Blockchain," CESifo Working Paper Series 10598, CESifo.
    2. Timothy King & Dimitrios Koutmos & Francesco Saverio Stentella Lopes, 2021. "Cryptocurrency Mining Protocols: A Regulatory and Technological Overview," Palgrave Studies in Financial Services Technology, in: Timothy King & Francesco Saverio Stentella Lopes & Abhishek Srivastav & Jonathan Williams (ed.), Disruptive Technology in Banking and Finance, edition 1, chapter 0, pages 93-134, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Julia Reynolds & Leopold Sögner & Martin Wagner, 2021. "Deviations from Triangular Arbitrage Parity in Foreign Exchange and Bitcoin Markets," Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, vol. 13(2), pages 105-146, June.
    4. Jaewon Jung, 2023. "Multinational Firms and Economic Integration: The Role of Global Uncertainty," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-18, February.
    5. Guglielmo Maria Caporale & Anamaria Diana Sova & Robert Sova, 2024. "The Covid‐19 pandemic and European trade flows: Evidence from a dynamic panel model," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(3), pages 2563-2580, July.
    6. Alessandro Paolo Rigamonti & Giulio Greco & Mariarita Pierotti & Alessandro Capocchi, 2024. "Macroeconomic uncertainty and earnings management: evidence from commodity firms," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 1615-1649, May.
    7. Hanna Halaburda & Guillaume Haeringer & Joshua Gans & Neil Gandal, 2022. "The Microeconomics of Cryptocurrencies," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 971-1013, September.
    8. Corbet, Shaen & Cumming, Douglas J. & Lucey, Brian M. & Peat, Maurice & Vigne, Samuel A., 2020. "The destabilising effects of cryptocurrency cybercriminality," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    9. Stefan Goldbach & Volker Nitsch, 2023. "Capital Controls Checkup: Cases, Customs, Consequences," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 71(4), pages 885-906, December.
    10. Goodell, John W. & Goutte, Stephane, 2021. "Co-movement of COVID-19 and Bitcoin: Evidence from wavelet coherence analysis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    11. Bekaert, Geert & Hoerova, Marie & Xu, Nancy, 2023. "Risk, Monetary Policy and Asset Prices in a Global World," CEPR Discussion Papers 18229, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Zhou, Xi & Xiao, Min & Wu, Huiying & You, Jiaxing, 2024. "Does policy uncertainty travel across borders? Evidence from MNC subsidiary investment decisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    13. Mariarosaria Comunale & Markus Eller & Mathias Lahnsteiner, 2020. "Assessing credit gaps in CESEE based on levels justified by fundamentals – a comparison across different estimation approaches," Bank of Lithuania Working Paper Series 74, Bank of Lithuania.
    14. Itay Goldstein & Wei Jiang & G Andrew Karolyi, 2019. "To FinTech and Beyond," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 1647-1661.
    15. Febrero-Bande, Manuel & González-Manteiga, Wenceslao & Prallon, Brenda & Saporito, Yuri F., 2023. "Functional classification of bitcoin addresses," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    16. Vesa Pursiainen & Jan Toczynski, 2023. "Retail Investors’ Cryptocurrency Investments," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 23-51, Swiss Finance Institute.
    17. Magud, Nicolas E. & Pienknagura, Samuel, 2024. "The return of expansionary austerity: Firms' investment response to fiscal adjustments in emerging markets," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    18. Martínez, Juan Francisco & Oda, Daniel, 2021. "Characterization of the Chilean financial cycle, early warning indicators and implications for macro-prudential policies," Latin American Journal of Central Banking (previously Monetaria), Elsevier, vol. 2(1).
    19. Jamil, Abd Rahim Md. & Law, Siong Hook & Mohamad Khair-Afham, M.S. & Trinugroho, Irwan, 2023. "Financial inclusion and economic uncertainty in developing countries: The role of digitalisation," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 786-806.
    20. Hannes Böhm & Julia Schaumburg & Lena Tonzer, 2022. "Financial Linkages and Sectoral Business Cycle Synchronization: Evidence from Europe," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 70(4), pages 698-734, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    crypto-assets; digital currency; legal tender; bitcoin;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • F32 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Current Account Adjustment; Short-term Capital Movements
    • F38 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Financial Policy: Financial Transactions Tax; Capital Controls

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:zbw:darddp:302552. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vwthdde.html .

    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.