Sam Bankman-Fried beats campaign finance charges in FTX case, Zuckerberg ‘fully committed’ to metaverse despite $4bn loss

It’s Thursday, in case you forgot.

In legal news, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s legal defence gets campaign finance charges dropped, and the US senate passes an eagerly-anticipated crypto bill. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg says he is still bullish on the metaverse, despite a lackluster second quarter in his conglomerate’s Reality Labs division. NFTs fly off the shelves at an auction, while US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fesses up to Bitcoin purchases.

Here’s what’s up in DeFi.

FTX founder eludes campaign finance charges

Prosecutors in the case against Bankman-Fried have dropped campaign finance charges due to extradition-based complications, according to Wednesday court filings.

Despite the dropped charges, Bankman-Fried still faces a litany of others which could add up to decades in prison if laid.

US Senate approves crypto legislation

After a somewhat heated debate, the US House Financial Services Committee approved Republican-led legislation which sets clearer rules for the cryptocurrency industry.

The bill stands to increase the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s authority over crypto regulation, though some critics feel those powers should go to the rival Securities and Exchange Commission. Others have pointed out that these new responsibilities won’t necessarily come with new funding.

Meta’s Zuckerberg licks metaverse wounds

Zuckerberg said Wednesday that Meta is still “fully committed” to its metaverse vision, despite a $3.7 billion loss from metaverse-focused subsidiary Reality Labs.

Zuckerberg highlighted the potential of metaverse technology and artificial intelligence in long term timeframes.

Sotheby’s sells $1.2m in NFTs

A 500-piece NFT sale hosted by auction house Sotheby’s sold out in less than an hour for a total of $1.2 million.

Despite lackluster NFT sales in the wider market, high-profile auctions such as Wednesday’s are still attracting buyers.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr admits to Bitcoin purchases

Kennedy admitted he purchased Bitcoin Wednesday, after having denied any investments earlier this month.

The presidential hopeful said that he purchased two Bitcoin each for his children in May. Kennedy has expressed support for Bitcoin as a hard asset to back the US dollar.

What we’re reading from around the web

EthCC Paris: Celo contributor explains move to Eth L2 and why ‘thousands’ of chains will follow suit — The Block

Senate slips crypto provisions into must-pass defence bill — DL News

Bitcoin mining computing power may drop as much as 30% after Halving: experts — CoinDesk