A preliminary assessment of the performance of DeFi cryptocurrencies in relation to other financial assets, volatility, and user-generated content

Abstract

After the so-called “crypto-winter”, decentralised finance (DeFi) is reviving interest in cryptocurrency amongst the scientific community, public and private institutions, and investors. DeFi is a novel disruptive process that promotes the use of blockchain technology for creating and issuing all kinds of financial products and services. This study aimed to measure the relationship amongst the returns of DeFi tokens, other traditional assets, and user-generated content. While the relationship between other crypto assets and traditional assets has been researched, this has not been done on DeFi assets. This study uses a logit-probit model over a database comprising the daily returns of 13 DeFi, VIX, S&P GSCI Crude Oil Index, and S&P GSCI Gold Index, and the daily variation in DeFi mentions in Telegram chats and Twitter. The results show that all variables except the S&P GSCI crude oil index returns and the daily variation in Twitter mentions were significant. This suggests that DeFi acts, similar to other crypto assets, as a safe haven. This study contributes to the literature on decentralised finance tokens as investment assets, which requires much more research.