Late 2013 may have been a highpoint for Bitcoin, where it reached prices exceeding $1000, but 2014 was an entirely different story. The popular cryptocurrency has since been in a near constant free fall, hovering around $300 for the past few months. Although occasionally jumping up in price, Bitcoin is still far away from the high point it reached in 2013, which is why Bloomberg has called it the worst currency of 2014.
It’s been a bad year for the Russian ruble and a terrible 12 months for the Ukrainian hryvnia. But it’s been a catastrophic 2014 for Bitcoin, the virtual currency. While acknowledging that my currency forecasting prowess means I’m driving a desk rather than tanning on a beach, the gyrations do seem to offer some valuable lessons. Bitcoin is second only to gold on the list of topics guaranteed to arouse the wrath of the Internet trolls. Yet relentless promotion can’t hide these facts: The digital currency peaked at a value of $1,130 just over a year ago. Its plunge of more than 56 percent in 2014 makes it the world’s worst performing currency this year, according to Bloomberg, which tracks 175 foreign-exchange values.
