Global Economic Policy Uncertainty and Bitcoin: A Transient Nexus

Uncertainty plays a significant role in shaping investment decisions, both directly and indirectly. In an uncertain economic environment, investors’ motivations for decision-making may vary. While some investors tend to seek safe-haven assets, others may engage in speculative behavior. Therefore, uncertainty can influence financial instruments through various mechanisms. One of these instruments is Bitcoin, which is often regarded as the “gold” of cryptocurrencies. Compared to traditional financial investment instruments, Bitcoin exhibits higher volatility and is among the primary assets that may be affected by uncertainty. However, an important question is whether this effect is temporary or per-manent. By adopting a frequency-domain causality approach, this study seeks to investigate the causal linkages between Global Economic Policy Uncertainty (GEPU) and Bitcoin price movements. In this context, the causal nexus between GEPU and BTC prices is examined for the entire period and for different frequencies. Although the study's findings show no causal nexus between the variables over the entire period, the analyses for the short, medi-um, and long run indicate a causal relationship from GEPU to BTC in the medium run. Accordingly, GEPU can be considered one of the factors affecting BTC price; however, its impact does not appear to be persistent.