A $131 billion crypto crash has traders fearing lasting damage

The altcoin casino blew up in spectacular fashion last week — and it’s not clear whether the gamblers are coming back. The crash didn’t just hit Bitcoin. It vaporised entire ecosystems of speculative tokens that had promised generational wealth through viral memes, big-name branding, and blind faith in momentum.

Bitcoin fell 13% after a fresh US-China tariff spat. But the damage was far deeper in smaller tokens, many of which fell as much as 80% before a tentative recovery. Trump’s memecoin, promoted earlier this year by US President Donald…