Crypto’s Big-Money Backers Hit Hard as Stock Premiums Plunge

The trade was simple — and worked until it didn’t. Wrap crypto in a stock ticker. Call it innovation. Ride the wave.

This week, with the crypto complex buckling alongside a tech-stock selloff, that wave is crashing. And some of its biggest promoters — including President Donald Trump ally David Bailey, Ethereum bull Tom Lee and Bitcoin evangelist Michael Saylor — must now deal with the fallout.

Bitcoin’s slide below $100,000 for the first time since June has ratcheted up pressure on shares in digital-asset treasury firms, or DATs — Wednesday’s tentative bounce around $103,000 notwithstanding. The average value ...