Our investigation strives to unearth the best portfolio hedging strategy for the G7 stock indices through Bitcoin and gold using daily data relevant to the period 2 January 2016 to 5 January 2023. This study uses the DVECH-GARCH model to model dynamic correlation and then compute optimal hedge ratios and hedging effectiveness. The empirical findings show that Bitcoin and gold were rather effective hedge assets before COVID-19 and diversifiers during the pandemic and Russia–Ukraine war. From hedging effectiveness perspectives, gold and Bitcoin are safe-haven assets, and the investment risk of G7 stock indices could be hedged by taking a short position during thepandemic period and war except for the pair Nikkei/Gold. Additionally, gold beats Bitcoin in terms of hedging efficiency. We thus demonstrate the central role of Bitcoin and gold as financial market participants, particularly during market turmoil and downward movements. Our findings can be of interest to investors, regulators, and governments to take into consideration the role of Bitcoin in financial markets.

In this paper, we examine the relationship between the volatilities of the energy index, crude oil, gas prices, and financial assets (Gold, Bitcoin, and G7 stock indexes), especially during the coronavirus crisis. The study tests the presence of regime changes in the GARCH volatility dynamics of the G7 stock indexes, Bitcoin, Gold, and energy assets (energy index, oil, and gas) by using the Markov–Switching GARCH model. It estimates the dynamic correlation and volatility spillover between energy and financial assets, by using the multivariate MSGARCH models. The estimation results of the Markov-Switching-BEKK-GARCH prove the volatility spillover from energy assets to financial assets. For the high regime, the results indicate a high level of dynamic correlation between energy assets and stock indexes which proves the contagion effect of the COVID-19. On the contrary, the dynamic conditional correlation between energy assets and Gold prices decreased during the COVID-19 crisis. This paper makes an original contribution in identifying the contagion between energy and financial assets and indicates that Gold is a safe haven for all energy and financial assets during the COVID-19 crisis. However, Bitcoin cannot be considered as a safe haven during the COVID-19 pandemic when investing in energy assets (crude oil and gas).

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, it models and forecasts the risk of the five leading cryptocurrencies, stock market indices (developed and BRICS) and gold returns. Second, it conducts different backtesting procedures forecasts. Third, it focuses on the hedging potential of cryptocurrencies and gold.Design/methodology/approach: The authors used the generalized autoregressive score (GAS) models to model and forecast the risk of cryptocurrencies, stock market indices and gold returns. They conduct different backtesting procedures of the 1% and 5%-value-at-risk (VaR) forecasts. They also use the generalized orthogonal generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GO-GARCH) model to explore the hedging potential of cryptocurrencies by estimating the dynamic conditional correlation between cryptocurrencies and gold, on the one hand, and stock markets on the other hand.Findings: When conducting different backtesting procedures of VaR, our finding suggests that Bitcoin has the highest VaR among cryptocurrencies and Gold and the BRICS indices returns have lower VaR compared to the developed countries. Finally, we provide evidence that the risks among developed stock markets can be hedged by Bitcoin and Gold. Bitcoin can be considered as the new Gold for these economies. Unlike Bitcoin, Gold can be considered as a hedge for Chinese and Indian investors. However, Gold and Bitcoin can be considered as diversifier assets for the other BRICS economies while Dash and Monero are diversifier assets for developed stock markets.Originality/value: The first paper's empirical contribution lies in analyzing optimal forecast models for cryptocurrencies (other than Bitcoin) returns and risk. The second contribution consists of studying the hedging potential of five leading cryptocurrencies. To the best of our knowledge, no previous studies have investigated the role of cryptocurrencies for BRICS investors.