Cryptocurrency Accepting Venues, Investor Attention, and Volatility

Using a novel dataset of cryptocurrency accepting business venues that accept cryptocurrencies as form of payments, we examine the relationship between new crypto accepting venues and crypto volatility. We argue that the number of new venues is a proxy for investor attention. We find that the number of new venues is a significant driver of crypto volatility. Moreover, venues that do not disclose their type of business as well as venues in Europe, North America and Oceania increase crypto volatility. Granger-causality, VAR estimation and a quasi-natural experiment validate our findings.