For cryptocurrencies, this year has been a virtual nightmare with Bitcoin, the electronic medium of exchange that has caught the fancy of the new-asset hunters in recent times, bungee-dropping 80% from its peak of $19,000 attained last December.

This year’s fall was an upside-down image of its upward climb the whole of last year, highlighting the volatility of this so-called asset while at the same time lending weight to the voice of its big-name detractors such as Warren Buffett, who calls it ‘rat poison squared’, or Nouriel Roubini, for whom it is nothing but a ‘mother of all scams’.

ET tracks the fortunes of the virtual currency