Bankman-Fried Takes Stand in Reminder of Crypto’s Epic Fall (1)

The fraud trial of Sam Bankman-Fried has often felt like a flashback from the distant past. Was there really ever a time when people thought his FTX crypto exchange was a real business, when the awkward 31-year-old who took the stand today was a billionaire market mogul, respectfully consulted for his take not only on cryptocurrencies but also on US market regulation, philanthropy and even the future of the human species in the face of intelligent robots?

The collapse of FTX was so spectacular and era-ending that it’s easy to assume we’re done with this episode. Maybe the crypto boom that ...