BITCOIN investors have had a hell of a ride this year. If you had bought one of the digital tokens last December, it would have cost you nearly $20,000. As New Scientist went to press, that coin was now worth around $3300 – and still falling. Ouch.

Of course, the cryptocurrency has seen plenty of ups and downs in its 10-year history , but this bust looks bad. In fact, falling prices could derail the entire thing.

That’s because as the value of bitcoin goes down, it becomes uneconomical to keep the tech …