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International audience; Corporate financing has recently benefitted from innovative technics and solutions based on the blockchain technology. In order to analyze them, this article proposes a theoretical framework based on risks: market mechanisms, information asymmetries, opportunistic behavior, legal guarantees and operational risks. We develop a typology of financing instruments through two dimensions: means of exchange and contracts. A study of four situations supports this classification and demonstrates the potential of blockchain despite the appearance of new risks.Le financement des entreprises bénéficie de l’introduction de techniques et solutions innovantes fondées sur la technologie blockchain. Afin de les analyser, cet article propose un cadre théorique centré sur les risques : les mécanismes de marché, les asymétries d’information, l’opportunisme, les garanties juridiques et les risques opérationnels. A partir d’une analyse de la littérature, nous développons une typologie des modes de financement en nous appuyant sur deux dimensions : les moyens d’échange et les contrats. Une étude de quatre situations appuie cette classification et démontre le potentiel de la blockchain en dépit de l’apparition de nouveaux risques.

International audience; Since cryptocurrencies were first created, the related markets have been known for their fluctuations, whether in terms of high volatility or illiquidity. Partially for those reasons, public authorities and regulators around the world have frequently attempted to regulate those markets. We aim in our study to examine whether cryptocurrency traders perceive market regulation in a beneficial way. Using an event study methodology for daily data covering the 2015-2019 period, we assess how regulatory news and events have affected returns in cryptocurrency markets. We further assess whether financial cryptocurrency characteristics and in particular their liquidity can explain cross-sectional variations in cryptocurrency return reactions. The results suggest that events that increase the probability of regulation adoption are associated with negative abnormal returns for the cryptocurrencies concerned. We also find that the magnitude of the return reactions is not the same across all the cryptocurrencies in our sample. We show that investors reacted less negatively for the most illiquid cryptocurrencies and for those that incurred more information asymmetry risk. Finally, we analyze a longer-term effect of regulatory events by studying the performance of cryptocurrencies. The risk-adjusted return in the preevent period is positive and significant, but it appears not to be significantly different from zero in the post-event period.

Purpose The purpose of this article is to provide some insights on the true nature of bitcoin and to study empirically its performance by using robust models, widely used in the academic literature. Previous studies assess performance with simple measures such as the Sharpe ratio. Such measures are insufficient because they do not take into account the bitcoin’s specificities, such as the possibilities to diversify risk. Design/methodology/approach The authors use quantitative methodologies to assess the performance of financial assets. Performance is defined as a risk-adjusted return. The authors use regression analysis and measure bitcoin’s performance as the constant term (α) of the projection of its returns on the returns of relevant factors of risk. Findings Bitcoin has low correlation with the market index and with factor-mimicking portfolios, which indicates opportunities to diversify risk. The performance of bitcoin (α) is positive and significant; this result is robust across period and world region specifications. Research limitations/implications The true nature of bitcoin is subject of debate and needs further research. Furthermore, other factors should be considered in analysing the bitcoin’s performance, such as those related to investors’ behaviour or political risk. Practical implications The empirical results obtained in this paper may be used by professional portfolio managers to diversify risk and to enhance their portfolio’s performance. Originality/value This paper adds to the literature by arguing that bitcoin has the nature of common stock, and therefore, its performance has to be assessed with models that are relevant for this type of securities. This paper is the first using performance models that adjust returns for relevant sources of risk.