At the beginning of the 2020 global COVID-2019 pandemic, Chinese financial markets acted as the epicentre of both physical and financial contagion. Our results indicate that a number of characteristics expected during a "flight to safety" were present during the period analysed. The volatility...

This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns in the U.S. on Bitcoin trading volume. I find that Bitcoin investors in the U.S. became active participants during the COVID-19 pandemic period and traded more bitcoin on days with low mobility associated with lockdown mandates. These results...

The article aims to verify whether cryptocurrencies can hedge extreme price movements of Brent oil. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed that the prices of oil are strongly dependent on economic uncertainty, as well as on the mobility factor. We analyse the Brent oil prices from February 10, 2020, to...

Are gold-backed cryptocurrencies as stable as gold during crises? In this paper, we assess whether gold-backed stablecoins, purported to be safer than other cryptocurrencies indeed demonstrate safe haven characteristics during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the digital assets’ ecosystem,...