This article is from Vanity Fair.

Compiled by: Moni, Odaily Planet Daily

“I really can’t take it anymore.”

In early February, the Signal inbox of a major crypto market maker was flooded with dozens of messages like this: The crypto market had plummeted another 15%—wiping out $400 billion in market capitalization in just a few days. In the previous four months, dragged down by Bitcoin, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies had plummeted by nearly 50%, with Ethereum and Solana both approaching 60%. This crash wiped out approximately $2 trillion in value, plunging the industry into a bear market, which the crypto community called “Winter”—a slightly nerdy metaphor paying homage to the unsettling line from *Game of…