Energy-conserving cryptocurrency response during the COVID-19 pandemic and amid the Russia–Ukraine conflict

Emna Mnif, Khaireddine Mouakhar and Anis Jarboui

Journal of Risk Finance, 2022, vol. 24, issue 2, 169-185

Abstract: Purpose - The mining process is essential in cryptocurrency networks. However, it consumes considerable electrical energy, which is undoubtedly harmful to the environment. In response, energy-conserving cryptocurrency projects with reduced energy requirements or based on renewable energies have been developed. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine ignited an unprecedented upheaval in financial products, especially in cryptocurrency and energy markets. Therefore, the paper aims to explore the response of these energy-conserving cryptocurrencies to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia–Ukraine conflict. Design/methodology/approach - This paper investigates the response of these energy-conserving cryptocurrencies to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia–Ukraine conflict. Their competitiveness is compared with conventional ones by analyzing their efficiency through multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis and automatic variance ratio during the COVID-19 and Russian invasion periods. Findings - The empirical results show that all investigated energy-conserving cryptocurrencies negatively responded to the pandemic and positively reacted to the Russian invasion. On the other hand, all conventional cryptocurrencies reacted negatively to the COVID-19 pandemic and the amid-Russian attack. Besides, Bitcoin and SolarCoin were the least inefficient before the outbreak of COVID-19. Nevertheless, the Ethereum market became the most efficient after the pandemic spread. Similarly, the efficiency of Ripple was the most significant during the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The energy crisis caused by Russia benefited the efficiency of the studied energy-conserving cryptocurrencies. Practical implications - This research is of interest to investors seeking opportunities in these energy-conserving cryptocurrencies and policymakers working to implement reforms to improve their market efficiency and promote long-term financial market growth. Originality/value - To the best of the authors' knowledge, the behavior of cryptocurrencies based on renewable and reduced energy during the recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine has not been explored.

Keywords: Energy-conserving cryptocurrencies; Energy consumption; COVID-19; Russia–Ukraine conflict efficiency index; Generalized Hurst exponent; C02; C13; E71; F18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:jrfpps:jrf-06-2022-0161

DOI: 10.1108/JRF-06-2022-0161

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Risk Finance is currently edited by Nawazish Mirza

More articles in Journal of Risk Finance from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().