Last year’s price run-up in the largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin (BTC), to a record $69,000 brought rampant speculation and risk-taking by crypto traders who used “leverage,” or borrowed money, to amplify their bets. The unwinding of that leverage over the course of 2022 served to accelerate the market’s descent. The CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index has tumbled 65% this year to about $16,594 at the time of writing.
