YouTuber says SEC will recommend dropping lawsuit over 2018 token ICO

Update (March 11 at 9:59 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a response from the SEC.

Ian Balina, the CEO of Token Metrics and a YouTuber with more than 100,000 subscribers, said the US Securities and Exchange Commission will stop pursuing him in court over allegations he violated securities laws by promoting Sparkster (SPRK) tokens in 2018.

Speaking to Cointelegraph on March 11, Balina said the SEC had informed him it planned to recommend the court dismiss a case filed in 2022 alleging “unregistered offering and promotion in 2018 of crypto asset securities called SPRK Tokens.”

According to the crypto YouTuber, the SEC’s actions were based on the change in the administration’s priorities — referring to US President Donald Trump appointing acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda after the departure of Gary Gensler in January.

“Obviously, the new administration is pro-crypto,” said Balina, claiming that the “time has ended” for crypto regulation through enforcement.

Balina speaking about Sparkster on YouTube in 2018. Source: Ian Balina

The SEC complaint against Balina, filed in September 2022, alleged the YouTuber agreed to receive a 30% bonus from Sparkster on the $5 million worth of tokens he purchased in the initial coin offering (ICO) — but did not disclose this information to his social media followers. In one of the last significant court rulings, a judge said in May 2024 that “SPRK tokens qualify as securities” under the SEC’s purview.

At the time of the 2024 decision, Balina’s legal team said it planned to appeal. The judge initially set a January 2025 jury trial date but approved a July 2024 motion for a continuance and agreed to schedule the proceedings at a later date. At the time of publication, no filing appeared on the docket in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas requesting to dismiss the case. In response to an inquiry from Cointelegraph, the SEC declined to comment on the case.

“It definitely was not cheap, cost a lot of money in terms of legal fees, which definitely sucks,” said Balina. “Makes me wish the SEC hadn’t put priority on all this.”

If confirmed by the SEC, petitioning to drop Balina’s case would be the commission’s latest action favoring crypto companies facing similar lawsuits. Since Trump took office on Jan. 20, the regulator announced it would stop pursuing investigations into Robinhood Crypto, Gemini, Uniswap and OpenSea and dropped cases against Coinbase, Consensys, Kraken and others.

The commission still has an open case against Ripple Labs, facing an appeal and cross-appeal following a $125 judgment in August 2024.

Related: SEC looking to abandon effort requiring crypto firms to register as exchanges

Many critics have suggested that the crypto industry purchased influence with the Trump administration by supporting the Republican candidate in the 2024 election or contributing to his inauguration fund after his November victory.

The US president hosted a crypto summit at the White House on March 7, attended by many industry leaders who directly or indirectly supported “pro-crypto” candidates in the last election cycle, including representatives of Robinhood, Gemini, Coinbase and Kraken.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered