Threat of İntervention in Cryptocurrency Market: West Side Story of Bitcoin and Ripple

Abstract

This study examines the impact of intervention threats on the price and volume volatility of Bitcoin and XRP. Using the Threshold or GJR-GARCH model, we analyse the relationship between news shocks (representing intervention threats) and the volatilities of Bitcoin and XRP price and volume returns, based on data from January 2014 to April 2021. The results indicate a significant association between news shocks and Bitcoin's price volatility, suggesting that interventionrelated news events have a notable impact. However, the relationship between news shocks and XRP's price volatility is insignificant. Notably, XRP's volume returns demonstrate a positive and significant relationship with news shocks, while Bitcoin's volume returns do not exhibit a significant relationship. Additionally, past shocks and conditional variance shocks significantly contribute to the volatility of today's price or volume returns. These findings suggest that Ripple (XRP) may benefit from the implicit threat of intervention, strategically managing its availability to control price surges.