News from China this week sent Bitcoin values plummeting, as it appeared the state was signaling a clampdown on the cryptocurrency. In a report issued on December 5, the People’s Bank of China issued a five-part document that laid out its thoughts on Bitcoin’s status. Most notably, it defined Bitcoin as a virtual commodity rather than a currency, and it forbade financial and payment institutions from developing Bitcoin-based services. That sounds bad on first reading, as Chinese users had been largely responsible for the currency’s large uptick in value this fall. But, as Vitalik Buterin points out at Bitcoin Magazine, …