Herding Behavior in the Market for Green Cryptocurrencies: Evidence from CSSD and CSAD Approaches
Júlio Lob�ão
Abstract
Green cryptocurrencies have been recently created to reduce energy consumption and environmental pollution by adopting alternative mining practices. This paper examines for the first time the market of green cryptocurrencies for indication of herding behavior in the period of January 2017–June 2022. By using two measures that capture the proximity of asset returns from the market consensus, we conclude that herding behavior among investors in green cryptocurrencies was absent in the whole sample. However, the results of a subsample analysis and rolling window regression show that herding dynamics varied significantly throughout the sample period. The recent COVID-19 pandemic amplified the observed levels of herding behavior, suggesting that opportunities for diversification for investors operating in this market may have become more limited lately. For this reason, financial regulators should focus on the market of green cryptocurrencies if they want to promote the market’s efficiency necessary to attract additional investors.