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Fund watch: A most unusual press release arrives promising "The Best Performing Fund in History." Something leveraged and tied to stocks like ProShares Ultra Nasdaq Biotechnology (BIB), up 147% this year? Something ancient like Vanguard Wellington Fund (VWELX)? No -- it's a year-old Bitcoin hedge fund based in Malta. Brokerage Exante Ltd. touts what it says is the 4,847% return of The Bitcoin Fund during 2013. Reproduced to the right is a Bloomberg screenshot of meteoric fund returns, which Exante included with the release, I guess to indicate the source of the claim. One Bitcoin equals one fund share, with an annual management fee of 1.75% and a "transaction fee" of 0.5%. Current assets under management are $35 million. Will the fund stay at these meteoric levels? Will it surge even higher? Will it crash? Who knows. But if you want to take part, be ready to do business on a small Mediterranean island. "The Bitcoin Fund is traded exclusively on the EXANTE fund platform," according to the release. In Malta Financial Authority we trust, I guess. This blogger has previously argued that Bitcoin could make a better hedge-fund investment than something to cram into an ETF. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, best known for contesting Facebook's (FB) origins, have proposed a Bitcoin ETF for the U.S. market.

In the news: Bloomberg News' Elizabeth Campbell reports hedge funds' bullish bets on gold receded to a four-month low last week, right before a tumble to similar lows in SPDR Gold Trust (GLD).

In case you missed it: Morningstar's Eric Jacobson on "How to Spot a Bad Bond Fund" -- starring Oppenheimer Core Bond (OPIGX).