Update (March 11th, 9:59pm UTC): This article has been updated to include responses from the SEC.
Ian Balina, CEO of Token Metrics and YouTuber with over 100,000 subscribers, said the Securities and Exchange Commission will stop pursuing allegations in court that it violated the securities law in 2018 by promoting Sparkster (SPRK) tokens.
Speaking to the Cointelegraph on March 11, Balina said she had informed him that the SEC would recommend dismissing the lawsuit filed in 2022.
According to Crypto Youtubers, the SEC’s actions were based on changing administration priorities. This refers to President Donald Trump, who appointed SEC Chairman Mark Uyeda after Gary Gensler left in January.
“Obviously, the new administration is a pro-crypto,” Barina said.
Balina talks about Sparkster on YouTube in 2018. Source: Ian Balina
A SEC complaint filed in September 2022 against Ballina claimed that YouTuber agreed to receive a 30% bonus from Sparkster for $5 million worth of tokens he purchased through the first Coin Provided (ICO), but claimed he did not publish this information to his social media followers. In one of the last important court decisions, the judge said in May 2024 that “SPRK tokens qualify as securities” within the SEC’s scope.
At the time of the 2024 decision, Ballina’s legal team said it would appeal. The judge initially set a ju trial date for January 2025, but approved the July 2024 renewed the claim for continuation and agreed to schedule the case at a later date. At the time of publication, the US District Court docket in the Western District of Texas did not require the case to be dismissed. In response to an investigation from the Cointelegraph, the SEC declined to comment on the incident.
“It definitely wasn’t cheap. It costs a lot of money in terms of legal costs. “I hope the SEC didn’t take priority over all of this.”
SEC’s response to code enforcement after Gensler’s departure
If confirmed by the SEC, petitioning to suspend Balina’s case would be the latest case from a committee in favour of crypto companies facing similar lawsuits. Since Trump took office on January 20th, regulators have announced that they will halt the pursuit of investigations on Robinhood Crypto, Gemini, Uniswap and Opensey, dropping cases against Coinbase, Consensey and Kraken.
The committee still has an open case against Ripple Labs facing appeals and mutual appeals following its $125 ruling in August 2024.
Related: SEC seeking to abandon efforts to require crypto companies to register as exchanges
Many critics have suggested that the crypto industry bought influence with the Trump administration by supporting Republican candidates in the 2024 election or by contributing to his inauguration fund after his victory in November.
The US President held a crypto summit at the White House on March 7, attended by many industry leaders who directly or indirectly supported the “procrypt” candidates in the final election cycle, including representatives from Robin Hood, Gemini, Coinbase and Kraken.
Magazine: SEC U-turn on Crypto leaves important questions unanswered
