So far, and with not long to go, Quartz has named Bitcoin as the winner of "worst investment of 2014" award.
There was plenty of ugliness to be found in the markets this year. Ukranian and Venezuelan sovereign debt. High-yield, energy-related corporate bonds. Argentine pesos. Russian rubles. Greek stocks.
But none of these investments has been as atrociously awful as bitcoin, the heavily hyped crypto-currency that stormed onto the financial scene in the last few years, threatening to disrupt the cornerstone of global finance that is fiat currency.
Bitcoin's performance has been even more unfortunate than the Russian Ruble and Brent crude.
And in a stunning energency move, Russia's central bank just raised its interest rate on the Ruble from 10.5% to 17% after oil prices hit a 5 year low. Compared to the US dollar, for the year, Bitcoin is down 52%, the Ruble is down 46.5% (before today's interest rate hike) and Brent is down 44%.
