Turkey’s Simsek warns: Beware of bitcoin

ANKARA

Turkey’s deputy prime minister on Wednesday warned investors against betting on cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

“Bitcoin surpasses tulip mania, which was the biggest asset bubble in the history of finance,” Mehmet Simsek said on Twitter, referring to the 17th-century Dutch craze for tulips.

While the price of Bitcoins can suddenly rise to an extreme level, "it can also collapse later," he warned.

Tulip mania took ahold of the Netherlands in the 1630s when prices of the flower bulbs rose sky high before collapsing in a spectacular fashion.

Simsek’s warnings come in the wake of bitcoin’s skyrocketing value -- up more than 1600 percent in the year.