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

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to recommend a court drop its case against crypto influencer Ian Balina, the CEO of Token Metrics and a YouTuber with more than 100,000 subscribers.

According to Balina, the commission will recommend dismissing a case filed in 2022 alleging “unregistered offering and promotion in 2018 of crypto asset securities called SPRK Tokens.” A judge ruled in May 2024 that “SPRK tokens qualify as securities” under the SEC’s purview.

Speaking to Cointelegraph on March 11, Balina said the regulator notified him of its decision to drop the case. The crypto influencer believes the move is linked to a change in the administration’s priorities with the departure of SEC Chair Gary Gensler in January. Trump appointed acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda.

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

The SEC complaint, filed in September 2022, alleged that Balina 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.

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. As 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.

“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.”

SEC about-face on crypto enforcement after Gensler’s departure

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:

* ​​​​​​​crypto exchange platform Uniswap

* Web3 startup Consensys

* NFT marketplace OpenSea

* crypto startup Gemini

* brokerage firm Robinhood

The commission also dropped cases against Coinbase, Kraken and others.

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

Many critics have suggested that the crypto industry purchased influence with the Trump administration by supporting the Republican candidate in the last 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:

* brokerage firm Robinhood

* crypto exchange Gemini

* crypto exchange Coinbase

* crypto exchange Kraken