IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/ijefaa/v18y2026i3p25.html

Bitcoin for a Passive U.S. Stock Market Investor

Author

Listed:
  • George Chang

Abstract

Cryptocurrencies have started gaining ground as investment vehicles. Cryptocurrencies exhibit characteristics that differentiate them from traditional financial assets. In 2009, Bitcoin (BTC), the first digital currency, was launched. In 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved ProShares Bitcoin Strategy (BITO), the first U.S. Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF). In 2024, SEC gave final approval for spot Ether (ETH) ETFs to start trading, further legitimizing the asset class. Although cryptocurrencies share many features of alternative assets, they are hindered by high volatility and regulatory uncertainties. Extant literature studies cryptocurrencies as alternative investments from various perspectives. Using market data, this empirical paper aims to contribute to the literature by studying the extent to which cryptocurrencies improve the risk-return profile of a diversified portfolio. Specifically, we do so by examining the economic impact of including Bitcoin for a passive investor investing in the U.S. Stock market index (S&P 500 index).

Suggested Citation

  • George Chang, 2026. "Bitcoin for a Passive U.S. Stock Market Investor," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 18(3), pages 1-25, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:ijefaa:v:18:y:2026:i:3:p:25
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijef/article/download/0/0/52880/57652
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijef/article/view/0/52880
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liu, Weiyi, 2019. "Portfolio diversification across cryptocurrencies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 200-205.
    2. Baur, Dirk G. & Hong, KiHoon & Lee, Adrian D., 2018. "Bitcoin: Medium of exchange or speculative assets?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 177-189.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Aurelio F. Bariviera & Ignasi Merediz‐Solà, 2021. "Where Do We Stand In Cryptocurrencies Economic Research? A Survey Based On Hybrid Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 377-407, April.
    2. Khaki, Audil & Prasad, Mason & Al-Mohamad, Somar & Bakry, Walid & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2023. "Re-evaluating portfolio diversification and design using cryptocurrencies: Are decentralized cryptocurrencies enough?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    3. Florin Aliu & Ujkan Bajra & Naim Preniqi, 2021. "Analysis of diversification benefits for cryptocurrency portfolios before and during the COVID-19 pandemic," Studies in Economics and Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 39(3), pages 444-457, September.
    4. Maurice Omane-Adjepong & Imhotep Paul Alagidede, 2020. "Dynamic Linkages and Economic Role of Leading Cryptocurrencies in an Emerging Market," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 27(4), pages 537-585, December.
    5. Chen, Wei-Peng & Wu, Chih-Chiang & Aimable, Withz, 2025. "Cryptocurrency market spillover in times of uncertainty," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    6. Wei Kuang, 2025. "Greening crypto portfolios: the diversification and safe haven potential of clean cryptocurrencies," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-23, December.
    7. Grobys, Klaus & Huynh, Toan Luu Duc, 2022. "When Tether says “JUMP!” Bitcoin asks “How low?”," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PA).
    8. Chu, Jeffrey & Chan, Stephen & Zhang, Yuanyuan, 2021. "Bitcoin versus high-performance technology stocks in diversifying against global stock market indices," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 580(C).
    9. Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Kang, Woo-Young & Spagnolo, Fabio & Spagnolo, Nicola, 2021. "Cyber-attacks, spillovers and contagion in the cryptocurrency markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    10. Syuhada, Khreshna & Hakim, Arief & Suprijanto, Djoko & Muchtadi-Alamsyah, Intan & Arbi, Lukman, 2022. "Is Tether a safe haven of safe haven amid COVID-19? An assessment against Bitcoin and oil using improved measures of risk," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    11. Muhammad Owais Qarni & Saiqb Gulzar, 2021. "Portfolio diversification benefits of alternative currency investment in Bitcoin and foreign exchange markets," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-37, December.
    12. Carlos Esparcia & Tarek Fakhfakh & Francisco Jareño & Achraf Ghorbel, 2024. "Dynamic DeFi-G7 stock markets interactions and their potential role in diversifying and hedging strategies," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 1-26, December.
    13. Bouteska, Ahmed & Hassan, M. Kabir & Rashid, Mamunur & Bilgin, Mehmet Hüseyin, 2024. "The dynamics of bonds, commodities and bitcoin based on NARDL approach," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 58-70.
    14. Osman, Myriam Ben & Galariotis, Emilios & Guesmi, Khaled & Hamdi, Haykel & Naoui, Kamel, 2023. "Diversification in financial and crypto markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    15. Artor Nuhiu & Florin Aliu & Jakub Horák & Bedri Peci, 2023. "Making Informed Decisions in the Volatile Crypto Market: An Analysis of Portfolio Risk and Return," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, August.
    16. Sonia Arsi & Soumaya Ben Khelifa & Yosra Ghabri & Hela Mzoughi, 2021. "Cryptocurrencies: Key Risks and Challenges," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Stéphane Goutte & Khaled Guesmi & Samir Saadi (ed.), Cryptofinance A New Currency for a New Economy, chapter 7, pages 121-145, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    17. Hassan Javed & Naveed Khan, 2025. "Do Bitcoin Shocks Dominate Other Cryptocurrencies? An Examination Through GARCH Based Dynamic Models," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 32(4), pages 1431-1457, December.
    18. Tim Schmitz & Ingo Hoffmann, 2020. "Re-evaluating cryptocurrencies' contribution to portfolio diversification -- A portfolio analysis with special focus on German investors," Papers 2006.06237, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2020.
    19. Cynthia Weiyi Cai & Rui Xue & Bi Zhou, 2023. "Cryptocurrency puzzles: a comprehensive review and re-introduction," Journal of Accounting Literature, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(1), pages 26-50, June.
    20. Colombo, Jéfferson Augusto & Cruz, Fernando I. L. & Paese, Luis H. Z. & Cortes, Renan X., 2021. "The diversification benefits of cryptocurrencies in multi-asset portfolios: cross-country evidence," Textos para discussão 542, FGV EESP - Escola de Economia de São Paulo, Fundação Getulio Vargas (Brazil).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:ijefaa:v:18:y:2026:i:3:p:25. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.