CryptoCurrency Returns During COVID: Implications For Its Status As A Currency
- Juliet U. Elu
- ( paper pages. 45 - 54 )
Abstract
To the extent that currency is a store of value, during
times of uncertainty, its value could potentially be higher, providing holders
a strategy to avoid capital losses on assets such as
equities or bonds and to secure capital gains. The recent and ongoing COVID
pandemic provides an opportunity to assess how crtypocurrency fares as a store
of value, as the pandemic has disrupted economies, possibly inducing
speculative motives for holding cryptocurrency. This paper sought to establish
if Bitcoin and Ethereum generated any excess returns over the recent time
period covering the pandemic. Parameter estimates from a Capital Asset Pricing
Model revealed that neither Bitcoin nor Ethereum realized excess returns during
the COVID pandemic. This suggests that to the extent that a standard and
generally acceptable medium
of exchange has a speculative component to its demand, crytopcurency such as
Bitcoin and Ethereum may not be good candidates as a medium of exhhange.
Citation
Juliet U. Elu.
2022.
"CryptoCurrency Returns During COVID: Implications For Its Status As A Currency"
The Nigerian Journal of Economic and Social Studies,
64 (1): 45 - 54.
JEL Classification
E41, E44, G10, G11, G12
