Update (9:59 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a response from SEC.
A YouTuber with token Matrix CEO Ian Balina and a YouTuber with over 100,000 customers said that the US Securities and Exchange Commission will stop chasing them in court by violating securities laws by promoting Sparkster (SPRK) tokens in 2018.
Speaking to Cointelegraph on 11 March, Balina said that SEC had informed him that it was planning to reject a case filed in 2022, alleging that “Crypto Asset Securities in 2018 in 2018 is offered offering and promotion.”
According to Crypto YouTuber, SEC’s action was based on change in administration’s priorities – referring to US President Donald Trump, appointing SEC President Mark Uyda after Gary Jensor’s departure in January.
“Obviously, the new administration is pro-crypto,” Balina said, claiming that the time has “ended” for crypto regulation through enforcement.
Balina is speaking about Sparkster on YouTube in 2018. Source: Ian Balina
The SEC complaint against Balina filed in September 2022, alleged that Utubar agreed to receive a 30% bonus from Sparkster, which offered a $ $ 5 million token bought in the initial coin offer (ICO) – but did not reveal this information to his social media followers. In one of the decisions of the last important court, a judge stated in May 2024 that the SPRK tokens are “qualified as securities” within the purview of SEC.
At the time of the 2024 decision, Balina’s legal team said it planned to appeal. The judge initially set the date of the jury trial on January 1, 2025, but approved the July 2024 proposal for a continuity and agreed to schedule the proceedings at the later date. At the time of publication, there was no filing on the dock in the US district court for the western district of Texas, requesting to dismiss the case. In response to an investigation from cointelegraph, SEC refused to comment on the case.
“It was definitely not cheap, spends a lot of money in case of legal fees, which is definitely useless,” Balina said. “I think SEC did not prioritize all this.”
SEC almost face on crypto enforce after the departure of the gainsler
If confirmed by SEC, the Commission will have the latest action to file a petition to leave Balina’s case, which is facing similar cases to the crypto companies. Since Trump took over on January 20, the regulator announced that he would stop investigating Robinhood Crypto, Gemini, Uniswap and Openia and dropped cases against coinbase, consensus, cracks and others.
The Commission still has an open case against Ripple Labs, after the $ 125 decision in August 2024 is facing an appeal and cross-plan.
Connected: SEC to leave the requirement of need to register crypto firms as exchanges
Many critics have suggested that the Crypto industry supported the Republican candidate in the 2024 election and bought an impact with the Trump administration or contributed to its inaugural fund after the November victory.
The US President hosted a Crypto Summit at the White House on 7 March, which was attended by several industry leaders, who directly or indirectly supported the “Pro-Crypto” candidates in the last election cycle, including Robinhood, Mithun, Coinbase and Representatives of Crackon.
magazine: SEC’s U-turn on Crypto leaves important questions
