On Nov. 21, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, pleaded guilty to breaking U.S. anti-money-laundering laws. Its CEO has stepped down, and the company will pay $4.3 billion in penalties. While the eye-watering fine is getting the headlines, it’s the details of the agreement that really redefine the relationship between government and crypto. U.S. authorities ...

Bitcoin, the decentralised, mainly digital currency that is neither issued nor guaranteed by central banks, has always seemed like a magic trick. Rather than spinning straw into gold it transforms wasted computing power into money that people will actually accept as payment. Radical libertarians have desperately wanted to believe in it because they hope it ...