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Crypto managed to make it through the year without a systemic collapse or a major scandal. Yet it’s still shaping up to be one of the industry’s worst years ever.

Until October, bitcoin had been riding high, hitting a peak of $126,000 — up more than 30% since January. But a combination of forces has wiped out all of the bellwether token’s gains for the year. It’s now down 7% since January, badly underperforming the S&P 500 stock index, which is up 15% for the year.

There are…