Cryptocurrency as an investment or speculation: a bibliometric review study

Abstract

Purpose – The study was done to review the existing literature available on the theme using a popular technique known as a bibliometric review. The purpose was to explore important bibliometric trends such as geographical distribution of research; the most relevant countries and institutions and important collaboration networks, frequently published authors, the most relevant topics/research domains and relationships among these, average citations or per year, the most relevant sources, top authors’ production, authors’ impact by H index and the progression of important keywords over a period of time. Design/methodology/approach – The study analyzed literature published in the English language from 2012 onwards that used the words “cryptocurrency”, “Ethereum” “Bitcoin” along with “investment/s” or “speculation/s” in the Title/ABS/KEY. A specialized approach was followed to retrieve and analyze focused research. The data for analysis was extracted from the Scopus database and was analyzed using Biblioshiny and VOSViewer. Findings – The study found that the countries such as the UK, Australia, China and the USA have special relevance in terms of the number of citations and collaboration networks. Cryptocurrency/Cryptocurrencies, bitcoin have been the base themes along with other crucial issues such as volatility, hedging, COVID-19 pandemic, Ethereum, blockchain, co-integration, portfolio diversification/optimization, spillover, safe haven, investor attention, gold, etc. There is a lot of interdisciplinary research on the theme. Originality/value – The current study used a concentrated approach to study the bibliometric literature about the financial implications of cryptocurrency as an asset class and not prominently its technological or legal aspects