Bitcoin traded near $20,000 on major exchanges, capping a year in which its price rose from under $1,000 amid intense retail speculation and a wave of initial coin offerings.
Futures contracts began trading on Chicago exchanges in December, giving institutional investors a route to short the asset for the first time. Regulators in China, South Korea and the United States issued warnings about fraud and investor protection.
The price fell by roughly 80 per cent over the following year, in a cycle that established a pattern repeated in later crypto markets.
