The authors employ the simple linear regression, quantile regression (QR), the exponential generalised autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (EGARCH) model, and sentiment analysis to examine this phenomenon. The authors utilise the daily closing price of the 20 leading cryptocurrencies, the Google search volume index of the “Coronavirus” keyword, the Twitter-based economic uncertainty index, and textual data collected from the Reddit social media platform.

Findings
The results show that investor attention and Twitter uncertainty have a negative (positive) effect on cryptocurrency returns (volatility). The QR results indicate a heterogeneous effect of investor attention and Twitter economic uncertainty on cryptocurrency returns with a higher effect in the lower quantiles. The findings indicate that cryptocurrencies fail to act as a safe haven during this pandemic.

Originality/value
The study is amongst the very few studies that capture the impact of investor attention/sentiment due to COVID-19 on the performance of cryptocurrencies.