BusinessCrypto backers lose $500bn in a yearBitcoin was created in 2008AFP/Getty ImagesRussell Lynch18 December 2018Investors in cryptocurrencies have lost nearly $500 billion (£397 billion) in a miserable year for the controversial asset class, experts said on Tuesday.A year ago this week the most prominent crypto, bitcoin, hit a record high, changing hands for almost $20,000 each as a flood of speculative cash fuelled a bubble. But bitcoin has slumped more than 80% since then, with latecomers to the party suffering major financial damage in a staggering destruction of value.Cryptocurrency broker Global Block said: “Cryptomarkets continue to leach value, with overall market cap across cryptos now threatening to break down through the $100 billion level. “Bearing in mind a year ago the overall market cap was nearly $594 billion, it has been one very bearish year.”This week Erik Finman, 19, one of the world’s youngest bitcoin millionaires who first bought the currency when he was 12, said: “Long term, it’s dead.”Bitcoin was created in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto, although the name is believed to be a psuedonym for the cryptocurrency’s creators.MORE ABOUTBitcoin