Bitcoin

Bitcoin: If currency crashed, plunge would harm its investors but not economy.

If bitcoin, which skeptics say is a bubble, suffers the same fate as past financial manias, look out below.

Fears of a bitcoin crash are growing amid an early-year plunge that has wiped out 50% of the digital currency's value since its December peak of $19,500 per coin.

"There is significant precedent to suggest that the more rapid the appreciation, the more rapid the depreciation," says Scott McGann, a finance lecturer at San Diego State University.

Bitcoin's wild ride continued Monday when it was down more than 11% at $10,050 after cratering last week to a seven-week low of $9,200.

The Bitcoin phenomena experiences both record highs and lows this week, but…uhh, what the heck is it again? USA TODAY

History is filled with examples of big busts after gargantuan gains. The Nasdaq fell nearly 80% after the dot-com stock bubble burst in 2000. The Dow tumbled 86% following the 1929 stock market crash. The Dutch tulip bulb craze in the 1600s had a similar bad ending.

If the pain following past popped bubbles is a guide, bitcoin believers who cheered the cryptocurrency's 1,400% gain last year should brace for further declines.

The reason: The bitcoin bubble is the biggest ever. Bitcoin's value has risen 65-fold, which tops the 50-fold rise of tulips in the 1630s and tech stocks' four-fold rise in the 1990s, according to Convoy Investments, a New York-based investment firm.

"Historically, most major asset bubbles tend to lose close to 80% of their peak value," says Howard Wang, co-founder of Convoy Investments.

Recent bitcoin turbulence has been sparked by fears of a regulatory crackdown by foreign governments.