As a financial innovation of the information age, cryptocurrency is a complex concept with clear advantages and disadvantages and is worthy of discussion. Exploring from a terrorism perspective, this study uses the time-varying parameter/stochastic volatility vector autoregression model to explore the risk hedging and terrorist financing capabilities of Bitcoin. Empirical results show that both terrorist incidents and brutality may explain Bitcoin price, but their effects are slightly different. Compared to terrorist brutality, terrorist incidents have a weaker impact on Bitcoin price, showing that Bitcoin investors are more concerned about the number of deaths than the frequency of terrorist attacks. In turn, the impact of Bitcoin price on terrorist attacks is negligible. Bitcoin is a potential means of financing terrorism, but it does not currently play an important role. Our research findings can help investors analyze and predict Bitcoin prices and help improve the theoretical system of anti-terrorist financing, helping to maintain world peace and security.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyze the dynamic changes of the arms trade network not only from the network structure but also the influence mechanism from the aspects of the economy, politics, security, strategy and transaction costs.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs the Temporal Exponential Random Graph Model and the Separable Temporal Exponential Random Graph Model to analyze the endogenous network structure effect, the attribute effect and the exogenous network effect of 47 major arms trading countries from 2015 to 2020.FindingsThe results show that the international arms trade market is unevenly distributed, and there are great differences in military technology. There is a fixed hierarchical structure in the arms trade, but the rise of emerging countries is expected to break this situation. In international arms trade relations, economic forces dominate, followed by political, security and strategic factors.Practical implicationsEconomic and political factors play an important role in the arms trade. Therefore, countries should strive to improve their economic strength and military technology. Also, countries should increase political mutual trust and gain a foothold in the industrial chain of arms production to enhance their military power.Originality/valueThe contribution of this paper is to analyze the special trade area of arms trade from a dynamic network perspective by incorporating economic, political, security, strategic and transaction cost factors together into the TERGM and STERGM models.

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