Bitcoin has been voted the worst currency in 2014, following a year of downward fluctuations in the still young open cryptocurrency market.

Bloomberg makes the claim, highlighting that Bitcoin did even worse than the Russian Ruble and Ukrainian Hryvnia.

“…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” Bloomberg’s Mark Gilbert argues.

Joining the rush of bear predictions, Gilbert says that “at a current value of about $326, Bitcoin isn’t dead, yet it may be mortally wounded.”

There is no argument that the valuation of Bitcoin has plummeted in 2014, but Gilbert seemingly ignores the reasons as to why, and the overall investment in the market that not only foretells of better days ahead, but a remarkably popular investment during the year.

The stand out story of the year was the effective ban of Bitcoin in China. The rot started in February, when the People’s Bank of China banned third-party payment processors from funding Bitcoin exchanges in the country.

Just hours after the announcement, the price of Bitcoin plunged to $520 following a high of $896 in late January.

Despite the downward trend, investment in the sector surged forward in 2014. There is a sound argument that venture capitalists can make dud investments, but there’s billions of dollars invested in the sector that would suggest that going forward there’s a strong and sound future for Bitcoin.

You can fairly say that the valuation of Bitcoin dropped precipitously, but to suggest it’s the “worst performing currency” overall is another matter; is anyone investing venture capital in Ukrainian Hryvnia’s?

2014 will be noted as the year that Bitcoin seriously entered the mainstream of the investment community, and started to emerge as a serious player in consumer transactions.