Bitcoin is a major virtual currency. Using weekly data over the 2010-2013 period, we analyze a Bitcoin investment from the standpoint of a U.S. investor with a diversified portfolio including both traditional assets (worldwide stocks, bonds, hard currencies) and alternative investments...

The recent turmoil in the financial markets has highlighted that no asset is really free of risk. Indeed, even the supposedly safest assets, namely sovereign bonds issued by developed countries, are exposed to default risk. Despite this observation most mean-variance efficiency tests are...

Evidence from the 2022 Ukraine war suggests that, for diversification purposes, gold and bitcoin are complements rather than substitutes during crises. Precisely, this paper shows that (i) gold is a diversifier for European stocks and oil and a hedge for US stocks and T-bills, while Bitcoin is a...