IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2512.00893.html

Early-Warning Signals of Political Risk in Stablecoin Markets: Human and Algorithmic Behavior Around the 2024 U.S. Election

Author

Listed:
  • Kundan Mukhia
  • Buddha Nath Sharma
  • Salam Rabindrajit Luwang
  • Md. Nurujjaman
  • Chittaranjan Hens
  • Suman Saha
  • Tanujit Chakraborty

Abstract

We study how the 2024 U.S. presidential election, viewed as a major political risk event, affected cryptocurrency markets by distinguishing human-driven peer-to-peer stablecoin transactions from automated algorithmic activity. Using structural break analysis, we find that human-driven Ethereum Request for Comment 20 (ERC-20) transactions shifted on November 3, two days before the election, while exchange trading volumes reacted only on Election Day. Automated smart-contract activity adjusted much later, with structural breaks appearing in January 2025. We validate these shifts using surrogate-based robustness tests. Complementary energy-spectrum analysis of Bitcoin and Ethereum identifies pronounced post-election turbulence, and a structural vector autoregression confirms a regime shift in stablecoin dynamics. Overall, human-driven stablecoin flows act as early-warning indicators of political stress, preceding both exchange behavior and algorithmic responses.

Suggested Citation

  • Kundan Mukhia & Buddha Nath Sharma & Salam Rabindrajit Luwang & Md. Nurujjaman & Chittaranjan Hens & Suman Saha & Tanujit Chakraborty, 2025. "Early-Warning Signals of Political Risk in Stablecoin Markets: Human and Algorithmic Behavior Around the 2024 U.S. Election," Papers 2512.00893, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2512.00893
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2512.00893
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sims, Christopher A, 1980. "Macroeconomics and Reality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(1), pages 1-48, January.
    2. Ben Omrane, Walid & Dabbou, Halim & Saadi, Samir & Savaser, Tanseli & Sebai, Saber, 2025. "Exploring volatility reactions in cryptocurrency markets using intraday macroeconomic news analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    3. Katsiampa, Paraskevi, 2017. "Volatility estimation for Bitcoin: A comparison of GARCH models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 3-6.
    4. Mukhia, Kundan & Rai, Anish & Luwang, S.R. & Nurujjaman, Md & Majhi, Sushovan & Hens, Chittaranjan, 2024. "Complex network analysis of cryptocurrency market during crashes," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 653(C).
    5. Jushan Bai & Pierre Perron, 2003. "Critical values for multiple structural change tests," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 6(1), pages 72-78, June.
    6. Dyhrberg, Anne Haubo, 2016. "Bitcoin, gold and the dollar – A GARCH volatility analysis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 85-92.
    7. Białkowski, Jędrzej & Dang, Huong Dieu & Wei, Xiaopeng, 2022. "High policy uncertainty and low implied market volatility: An academic puzzle?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(3), pages 1185-1208.
    8. Alessandro Beber & Michael W. Brandt, 2010. "When It Cannot Get Better or Worse: The Asymmetric Impact of Good and Bad News on Bond Returns in Expansions and Recessions," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 14(1), pages 119-155.
    9. Kilian,Lutz & Lütkepohl,Helmut, 2018. "Structural Vector Autoregressive Analysis," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107196575, November.
    10. Chaudhuri, Kausik & Wu, Yangru, 2003. "Random walk versus breaking trend in stock prices: Evidence from emerging markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 575-592, April.
    11. Sami Ben Jabeur & Zouhaier Dhifaoui & Yassine Bakkar & Houssein Ballouk, 2025. "‘Crypto president’: Do narrative political signals drive cryptocurrency returns?," Post-Print hal-05451354, HAL.
    12. Jushan Bai & Pierre Perron, 2003. "Computation and analysis of multiple structural change models," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(1), pages 1-22.
    13. MacKinnon, James G, 1996. "Numerical Distribution Functions for Unit Root and Cointegration Tests," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(6), pages 601-618, Nov.-Dec..
    14. Jushan Bai & Pierre Perron, 1998. "Estimating and Testing Linear Models with Multiple Structural Changes," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(1), pages 47-78, January.
    15. Dickey, David A & Fuller, Wayne A, 1981. "Likelihood Ratio Statistics for Autoregressive Time Series with a Unit Root," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(4), pages 1057-1072, June.
    16. Ben Jabeur, Sami & Dhifaoui, Zouhaier & Bakkar, Yassine & Ballouk, Houssein, 2025. "‘Crypto president’: Do narrative political signals drive cryptocurrency returns?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    17. Efstathios Paparoditis & Dimitris N. Politis, 2018. "The asymptotic size and power of the augmented Dickey–Fuller test for a unit root," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(9), pages 955-973, October.
    18. Pástor, Ľuboš & Veronesi, Pietro, 2013. "Political uncertainty and risk premia," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(3), pages 520-545.
    19. Kundan Mukhia & SR Luwang & Md. Nurujjaman & Tanujit Chakraborty & Suman Saha & Chittaranjan Hens, 2025. "Universal Patterns in the Blockchain: Analysis of EOAs and Smart Contracts in ERC20 Token Networks," Papers 2508.04671, arXiv.org.
    20. Wei, Wang Chun, 2018. "The impact of Tether grants on Bitcoin," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 19-22.
    21. Ben S. Bernanke & Jean Boivin & Piotr Eliasz, 2005. "Measuring the Effects of Monetary Policy: A Factor-Augmented Vector Autoregressive (FAVAR) Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(1), pages 387-422.
    22. Yang, Boyu & Sun, Yuying & Wang, Shouyang, 2020. "A novel two-stage approach for cryptocurrency analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    23. Mohsen Pourahmadi, 2007. "Cholesky Decompositions and Estimation of A Covariance Matrix: Orthogonality of Variance--Correlation Parameters," Biometrika, Biometrika Trust, vol. 94(4), pages 1006-1013.
    24. Tanujit Chakraborty & Donia Besher & Madhurima Panja & Shovon Sengupta, 2025. "Neural ARFIMA model for forecasting BRIC exchange rates with long memory under oil shocks and policy uncertainties," Papers 2509.06697, arXiv.org.
    25. Riccardo Blasis & Luca Galati & Alexander Webb & Robert I. Webb, 2023. "Intelligent design: stablecoins (in)stability and collateral during market turbulence," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-23, December.
    26. Nicholas Bloom, 2009. "The Impact of Uncertainty Shocks," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 623-685, May.
    27. Barry Eichengreen & My T. Nguyen & Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj, 2025. "Stablecoin devaluation risk," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(11), pages 1469-1496, July.
    28. Lee, Yi-Hsi & Chiu, Yu-Fen & Hsieh, Ming-Hua, 2025. "Stablecoin depegging risk prediction," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    29. Corbet, Shaen & Larkin, Charles & Lucey, Brian & Meegan, Andrew & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2020. "Cryptocurrency reaction to FOMC Announcements: Evidence of heterogeneity based on blockchain stack position," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    30. Lyons, Richard K. & Viswanath-Natraj, Ganesh, 2023. "What keeps stablecoins stable?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    31. Zhang, Xun & Yu, Lean & Wang, Shouyang & Lai, Kin Keung, 2009. "Estimating the impact of extreme events on crude oil price: An EMD-based event analysis method," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 768-778, September.
    32. Shaen Corbet & Charles Larkin & Brian M. Lucey & Andrew Meegan & Larisa Yarovaya, 2020. "The impact of macroeconomic news on Bitcoin returns," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(14), pages 1396-1416, September.
    33. Kundan Mukhia & Anish Rai & SR Luwang & Md Nurujjaman & Sushovan Majhi & Chittaranjan Hens, 2024. "Complex network analysis of cryptocurrency market during crashes," Papers 2405.05642, arXiv.org.
    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. Guglielmo Maria Caporale & Menelaos Karanasos & Stavroula Yfanti, 2019. "Macro-Financial Linkages in the High-Frequency Domain: The Effects of Uncertainty on Realized Volatility," CESifo Working Paper Series 8000, CESifo.
    2. Dunbar, Kwamie & Owusu-Amoako, Johnson, 2023. "Predictability of crypto returns: The impact of trading behavior," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    3. Evgenidis, Anastasios & Tsagkanos, Athanasios, 2017. "Asymmetric effects of the international transmission of US financial stress. A threshold-VAR approach," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 69-81.
    4. Arghyrou, Michael G. & Gadea, Maria Dolores, 2012. "The single monetary policy and domestic macro-fundamentals: Evidence from Spain," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 16-34.
    5. Pegkas Panagiotis, 2019. "Government Debt and Economic Growth. A Threshold Analysis for Greece," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 25(1), pages 1-6, February.
    6. Karanasos, M. & Yfanti, S., 2021. "On the Economic fundamentals behind the Dynamic Equicorrelations among Asset classes: Global evidence from Equities, Real estate, and Commodities," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    7. Ahmed, Walid M.A., 2018. "On the interdependence of natural gas and stock markets under structural breaks," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 149-161.
    8. Al-Shboul, Mohammad & Alsharari, Nizar, 2019. "The dynamic behavior of evolving efficiency: Evidence from the UAE stock markets," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 119-135.
    9. Qian, Yu & Xu, Zeshui & Qin, Yong & Gou, Xunjie & Skare, Marinko, 2023. "Measuring the varying relationships between sustainable development and oil booms in different contexts: An empirical study," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    10. María Dolores Gadea & Ana Gómez-Loscos & Antonio Montañés, 2016. "Oil Price and Economic Growth: A Long Story?," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-28, October.
    11. Angela Abbate & Sandra Eickmeier & Wolfgang Lemke & Massimiliano Marcellino, 2016. "The Changing International Transmission of Financial Shocks: Evidence from a Classical Time‐Varying FAVAR," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 48(4), pages 573-601, June.
    12. Mushtaq Hussain Khan & Junaid Ahmed & Mazhar Mughal & Imtiaz Hussain Khan, 2023. "Oil price volatility and stock returns: Evidence from three oil‐price wars," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 3162-3182, July.
    13. Vicente Esteve & Francisco Requena, 2006. "A Cointegration Analysis of Car Advertising and Sales Data in the Presence of Structural Change," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 111-128.
    14. Peng‐Fei Dai & John W. Goodell & Luu Duc Toan Huynh & Zhifeng Liu & Shaen Corbet, 2023. "Understanding the transmission of crash risk between cryptocurrency and equity markets," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 58(3), pages 539-573, August.
    15. Chevallier, Julien, 2011. "Evaluating the carbon-macroeconomy relationship: Evidence from threshold vector error-correction and Markov-switching VAR models," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 2634-2656.
    16. Telli, Şahin & Chen, Hongzhuan, 2020. "Structural breaks and trend awareness-based interaction in crypto markets," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 558(C).
    17. Ahmed, Walid M.A., 2019. "Islamic and conventional equity markets: Two sides of the same coin, or not?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 191-205.
    18. Ahmed, Walid M.A., 2021. "How do Islamic equity markets respond to good and bad volatility of cryptocurrencies? The case of Bitcoin," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    19. Giorgio Canarella & Rangan Gupta & Stephen M. Miller & Stephen K. Pollard, 2019. "Unemployment rate hysteresis and the great recession: exploring the metropolitan evidence," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 61-79, January.
    20. Beckmann, Joscha & Geldner, Teo & Wüstenfeld, Jan, 2024. "The relevance of media sentiment for small and large scale bitcoin investors," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:arx:papers:2512.00893. 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: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    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.