Did Bitcoin Act as An Antidote to the Chinese Equity Market and Booster to Altcoins during the Novel Coronavirus Outbreak?

Abstract

In this study, we examine the resilience of Bitcoin (BTC) to hedge Chinese aggregate and sectoral equity markets and the returns spillover to Altcoins onset the Novel Coronavirus outbreak. We observe that BTC is a weak hedge during the overall period and a weak safe haven onset the crisis. Besides, BTC is a weak hedge, diversifier and a weak safe haven for the sectoral equity indexes. Overall, gold outperforms BTC in hedging and safe haven perspectives with respect to Chinese equity markets. Lastly, we find that the rise in Altcoin prices are majorly due to spillover from BTC prices.

Keywords: Novel Coronavirus, Bitcoin, China, Altcoin, Hedge, Safe haven

JEL Classification: C22, G15