Are Stablecoins Safe Havens for Traditional Cryptocurrencies? An Empirical Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic
We investigate whether stablecoins are safe havens for traditional cryptocurrencies with fresh evidence from the recent crisis period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results support the safe-haven properties of Tether for both before and during the pandemic. For Digix, a gold-backed stablecoin with r...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Tuwhera Open Access Publisher
2021-03-01
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| Series: | Applied Finance Letters |
| Online Access: | https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/applied-finance-letters/article/view/342 |
| Summary: | We investigate whether stablecoins are safe havens for traditional cryptocurrencies with fresh evidence from the recent crisis period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results support the safe-haven properties of Tether for both before and during the pandemic. For Digix, a gold-backed stablecoin with relatively small market capitalization, we find a change in characteristics before and during the pandemic, but do not find statistically significant evidence for its safe-haven properties. Furthermore, we document that, when considering the economic benefits and costs of adding safe-haven assets into cryptocurrency portfolios, the one with Tether outperforms both a naked portfolio and the portfolio with a traditional safe-haven asset such as gold.
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| ISSN: | 2253-5799 2253-5802 |