Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters/MBA)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/37942
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Item Crypto Connections: Unravelling African Stock Markets and Cryptocurrencies in the COVID-19 Era(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Marcus, Howard; Odei-Mensah, JonesSince their introduction in 2019, cryptocurrencies have become increasingly popular in the African markets. Cryptocurrencies are seen as disruptive technology based on cryptographical technologies and do not share features related to the real economy. Based on this characteristic, one hypothesises that these assets are a perfect diversification instrument during periods of high volatility, particularly as portfolio managers look for new avenues to manage risk. The main aim of this study was broadly focused on the interdependence and co-movement relationship of cryptocurrencies and African stock markets during periods of severe market stress, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was mainly concerned with those aspects of connectedness that relate to transmission through financial markets. This study sought to examine the co-movement relationships, determine the extent of integration and establish the direction of spillover by replicating modelling techniques proposed by Diebold and Yilmaz (2009; 2012) and Barunik and Krehlik (2018). These techniques measure connectedness using a spillover index, which follows a variance decomposition approach of a vector autoregressive model. The second technique allows for the estimation of connectedness to variables because of heterogeneous frequency responses to shocks. By studying the connectedness of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, Binance Coin, and XRP and the five largest African stock markets based on market capitalisation (South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt, and Kenya), the study observed that the COVID-19 sub-sample period contributed most to connectedness at 31.79% relative to the pre-COVID period at 23.67%. The highest contributors to connectedness in both periods are Bitcoin and Ethereum, with Tether being the lowest. These results indicate that information flow mostly comes from the stock markets rather than cryptocurrencies. Also, from the frequency-domain results, across both periods, the most significant contributor to connectedness is observed in the short-term being frequency 1, accounting for 17,74% and 24.77%, and frequency 2, 4.35% and 5.16% in the pre-COVID and COVID periods respectively, while the medium- term and long-term accounting for relatively more minor proportions. Thus, contagion is highest in the short term given connectedness results, thus leading to lower diversification across the short term; however, diversification benefits are noted across more extended term periods. In addition, in the longer-term period, the change in connectedness is relatively tiny. The findings of this study suggest that cryptocurrencies could be an alternative to diversifying risk in African equities. Diversification is essential for long-term investors and regulators as they build resilience in the financial markets during a crisis. This study informs policymakers and governments on the need to regulate markets to optimise diversification, safe haven, and hedging benefits across varied market conditionsItem Determinants of consumers’ willingness to use cryptocurrency as a form of payment in retail(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022-07) Potelwa, MyezoThe outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased the number of online shopping transactions and cryptocurrency has been used as payment in some of these transactions. Some retail consumers are opposed to the use of cryptocurrency and some retail consumers want to be able to use cryptocurrency as payment in retail payments. Woolworths hired Insight, the management consulting firm, to help Woolworths executives find out whether it will increase or decrease Woolworths’s revenue if Woolworths starts accepting cryptocurrency as payment. Insight conducted its research in South Africa. Research participants answered the research questions by completing questionnaires online via the Qualtrics website. People of all ages shop at Woolworths, but for ethical reasons, Insight’s research only took the responses of adult research participants (people aged 18 and over) into consideration. The research approach of this consultancy report is quantitative research. The target population consists of South African adults. This consultancy report gathers data by using questionnaires with close-ended 7-point Likert scale questions. The reliability of this research is measured by Cronbach’s alpha score. The validity of this research is determined with exploratory factor analysis, which is conducted with IBM SPSS Software. The statistical processes that are used to analyse data include multiple regression analysis, correlation analysis, t-tests and ANOVAs. The dependent variables are Gender, Age, Environmental ethics, Ethics regarding criminal activity, Technology proficiency and Customer Equity. The dependent variable is Willingness to use cryptocurrency as payment. Money, time, common method variance and common method bias are limitations of this consultancy report. The anonymity of respondents is respected. This consultancy report takes the responses of respondents who have given informed consent into consideration. This consultancy report found that even though there will be some retail consumers who are opposed to the use of cryptocurrency as payments in retail because of their environmental ethics, there are many more consumers who want to be able to use of cryptocurrency as payments in retail because of the convenience of cryptocurrency payments, the lower transaction costs of cryptocurrency payments and the reduced risk of exposure to credit card fraud and identity theft when making cryptocurrency payment