Cash in the Pocket, Cash in the Cloud: Cash Holdings of Bitcoin Owners

Daniela Balutel, Christopher Henry, Kim Huynh and Marcel Voia
Additional contact information
Daniela Balutel: York University and Bank of Canada

International Journal of Central Banking, 2024, vol. 20, issue 3, 115-159

Abstract: Are private digital currencies such as Bitcoin a substitute for physical cash? We test this hypothesis using data from the Bank of Canada’s Bitcoin Omnibus Survey. We estimate the effect of Bitcoin ownership on the level of cash holdings. We find a positive correlation between Bitcoin ownership and cash holdings. This effect remains after accounting for selection into ownership. On average, Bitcoin owners hold 83 percent (in 2018) to 95 percent (in 2017) more cash than non-owners. Quantile regressions find that Bitcoin ownership has a nonlinear effect on cash holdings. The difference varies from 63 percent (25th quantile) to 176 percent (95th quantile) in 2017. Our results provide evidence that Bitcoin adopters also hold cash.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.ijcb.org/journal/ijcb24q3a3.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Cash in the Pocket, Cash in the Cloud: Cash Holdings of Bitcoin Owners (2022)
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:ijc:ijcjou:y:2024:q:3:a:3

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Central Banking is currently edited by Loretta J. Mester

More articles in International Journal of Central Banking from International Journal of Central Banking
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Bank for International Settlements ().