Bitcoin Worst Investment - For many years since the crypto-currency burst onto the scene, there has been a raging debate about whether bitcoin should be considered a currency, now a report by Bloomberg may have finally put this revolutionary form of payment in its place.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gilbert, despite the awful year for the Russian ruble and Ukrainian hryvnia, these two currencies have performed better than bitcoin. The cypto-currency has reportedly lost more than 56% since the beginning of the year and about 72% since November last year. This means that if you invested about $5,000 into bitcoin in January, you'd actually be left with $2,100 today.

After hitting a high point of about $1,130, the value of bitcoin has struggled to rise. It is currently at $320. While commentators say this is not really bad for investors into the virtual currency, it does show a large depreciation.

The sagging value of bitcoin is bound to also be negatively affected by the growing popularity of hackers. Several critics of bitcoin have noted that one of its greatest drawbacks is the ever-present threat that investors could easily get duped by unscrupulous hackers, who are very knowledgeable of the crypto-currency.

Critics say the fact that bitcoin is being fingered in shady online deals is not endearing it to investors. Reports indicate that bitcoin has become the preferred mode of transactions for shady characters online, including drug dealers and money launderers. While the lack of governmental support and material evidence has been said to be disadvantages for bitcoin, the fact that the authorities may be now linking the currency with criminal activity adds new dimensions to this problem.

Meanwhile, some experts have said the reason for the seemingly negative outlook of bitcoin is that it is suffering from the unrealistic expectations that it attracted when it was first introduced. This may explain why the crypto-currency hit a peak back then, before it started to fizzle. But this doesn't say anything about the future.

As it stands, bitcoin is struggling, but experts say the new year is expected to bring with it new opportunities for growth.