Bitcoin: what have experts said about the cryptocurrency?

The most memorable comments on the cryptocurrency from senior figures in world finance

"ECB official backs bitcoin clampdown

Bitcoin's gyrations have attracted a lot of attention over the past year. Here are some of the most memorable comments from senior figures in world finance.

At these speeds, if you bought a bunch of tulips with bitcoin they may well have wilted by the time the transaction was confirmed."

Bitcoin is the first, and the biggest, "cryptocurrency" - a decentralised tradeable digital asset. Whether it is a bad investment is the big question. Bitcoin can only be used as a medium of exchange and in practice has been far more important for the dark economy than it has for most legitimate uses. The lack of any central authority makes bitcoin remarkably resilient to censorship, corruption - or regulation. That means it has attracted a range of backers, from libertarian monetarists who enjoy the idea of a currency with no inflation and no central bank, to drug dealers who like the fact that it is hard (but not impossible) to trace a bitcoin transaction back to a physical person.

I tend to think of bitcoin as an experiment. It is an interesting experiment, but it's not a permanent feature of our lives."

Put up the sign from Dante's Inferno - 'Abandon hope all ye who enter here' - I think that's probably what's needed."