Pisit Potjanajaruwit

Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University,

Thailand

pisit.po@ssru.ac.th

ORCID 0000-0002-8558-0790

The influence of bitcoin trading on the market capitalization of banking institutions

Abstract. This study investigates the relationship between Bitcoin trading activity and the market capitalization of commercial banks in Thailand. It addresses a research gap by examining whether Bitcoin trading influences banking-sector valuation after controlling for key macroeconomic determinants. The analysis uses daily and weekly observations from 2013 to 2020, covering the aggregate market capitalization of eleven commercial banks listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). Multiple linear regression analysis was employed to estimate the effect of Bitcoin trading volume while controlling for inflation (CPI), lending interest rates (MLR), the nominal effective exchange rate (NEER), and gross domestic product (GDP). The findings reveal a statistically significant positive relationship between Bitcoin trading volume and commercial bank market capitalization, supporting the complement effect rather than the substitution effect. Inflation, lending interest rates, and the exchange rate also significantly influenced banking-sector market capitalization, whereas GDP produced mixed results across data frequencies. These findings provide evidence that technological innovation and macroeconomic conditions jointly shape banking-sector valuation in an emerging economy.

Received: April, 2025

1st Revision: June, 2026

Accepted: August, 2026

DOI: 10.14254/2071-8330.2026/19-3/4

JEL Classification: G12, G21, E31

Keywords: cryptocurrency, market capitalization, performance