The economist said the bitcoin craze had swept over young buyers but that the cryptocurrency will eventually bore them.

Mr Savouri said: "My 12-year-old son was trading picture cards with his friend: he got bored with it. And the current generation who are trading bitcoin will get bored of it.

"If you look at the universe of those who have been buying bitcoin of late, and the universe of those who think John McDonnell would be a good Chancellor they overlap too closely.

"I think they are sort of financially illiterate."

Speaking to BBC Daily Politics, the Toscafund Asset Management chief economist said bitcoin-mania is destined to crash as other financial bubbles have in the past.

He continued: "You can’t deny the exponential growth of the price of bitcoin but we mustn’t confuse the price of something with its value.

"It’s a bubble. We have been here before: this will burst."

Currencies such as Ethereum and Bitcoin are forms of digital currencies which are created and held electronically, and not currently subject to any form of financial regulation, sparking concerns that investors have no protection should the bubble burst.

Bitcoin itself, which started the year valued at less than £1,000, has smashed records in recent weeks, surging past the £17,500 barrier by lunchtime on Wednesday.

The price surge came after the bitcoin futures launch late on December 10 gave investors exposure to the bitcoin market via a large, regulated exchange for the first time.

Chicago-based derivatives exchange CBOE launched the futures late on Sunday, while the CME Group is due to launch its futures contract this weekend.

NASDAQ, the world’s second-largest stock exchange, is expected to launch bitcoin futures in the first half of 2018. Futures are a way to bet on or hedge against bitcoin

Nevertheless Wall Street remains sceptical of the highly volatile digital currency, with critics warning that bitcoin could be a bubble about to burst.