A year ago, crypto was riding a wave of White House support, Wall Street enthusiasm and expectations of a new golden age. Then came October’s historic crash, wiping out a record $19 billion in leveraged bets in a single day, setting off an industry-wide retrenchment and exposing the fragility of a market structure supposedly coming of age.

Twelve months later, market bellwether Bitcoin remains more than 30% below its record high. Attempts at a sustained rally have repeatedly faltered and traders have been slow to rebuild the leveraged positions that once powered crypto’s biggest booms. 

Total open interest in…