New Delhi, July 14 -- NEW YORK - In the first hours of Asian trading on Monday, Bitcoin fell to $62,300, a 3.4 percent drop from its Sunday peak. The price had recovered to around $62,800 by the time London opened, but about $253 million in leveraged positions had already been wiped out. CoinGlass put that at roughly one-sixth of the worst single-session liquidation over the prior month. For a market that had spent the previous week climbing, it was a reset.

Three catalysts converged over the weekend to drain risk appetite from crypto markets and redirect capital elsewhere. None of them originated inside the crypto industry.

The first was the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump announced a 20-percent fee on all cargo transiting the strait...