WASHINGTON: 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 US$19bil 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.

About 12 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 bitcoin-linked perpetual futures…