Bank of America: Bitcoin Bubble Is Already Popping

A team of Bank of America Merrill Lynch researchers is arguing that bitcoin is one of the "Greatest asset price bubbles in history."

In a note released Sunday, the team led by chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett went so far as to categorize the current market, which has seen a 60 percent correction so far in 2017, as a bubble that is already popping, Bloomberg reported.

The bank published a chart comparing bitcoin with famous financial manias: the Mississippi Company and South Sea Company in the 18th century, gold, the U.S. stock market in 1929 and the Dutch tulip bubble in 1637.

A published chart shows that the bitcoin bubble has the greatest asset price appreciation by a significant margin.

BAML's chart shows the aftermath of famous historical bubbles as well as their run-up, indicating that once prices crash, they remain at their new, lower levels.

The same has not proved true of bitcoin so far, however.

The recent bitcoin bubble is not history's - or event bitcoin's - greatest bubble.

The price of bitcoin shot up 120-fold in 2010 and 2011, to around $11, before crashing.

The 2017-2018 bubble had more capital invested in the market than either 2010-2011 or 2013-2014.

The same factor complicates comparisons between bitcoin and the stock market.