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.”

About-face from SEC 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 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

Securities exchange Cboe BZX is seeking permission from US regulators to incorporate staking into Fidelity’s Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF), according to a March 11 filing. 

The filing marks Cboe’s latest attempt to support staking for the Ether (ETH) funds traded on its US exchange. 

Cboe’s proposed rule change would allow Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH) to “stake, or cause to be staked, all or a portion of the Trust’s ether through one or more trusted staking providers,” the filing said.

The Fidelity Ethereum Fund is among the most popular Ether ETFs, with nearly $1 billion in assets under management, according to data from VettaFi. 

In February, Cboe asked permission to add staking to another Ether ETF, the 21Shares Core Ethereum ETF.

Staking Ether enhances returns and involves posting ETH as collateral with a validator in exchange for rewards.

As of March 11, staking Ether yields approximately 3.3% APR, denominated in ETH, according to Staking Rewards.

Other popular cryptocurrencies, including Solana (SOL), also feature staking mechanisms. 

Staking rewards by asset type. Source: Staking Rewards

Related: SEC seeks comment on in-kind redemptions for Bitcoin, Ether ETFs

Proposed rule changes

The US Securities and Exchange Commission must still approve Cboe’s proposed rule changes before staking can commence.

In February, the SEC acknowledged more than a dozen exchange filings related to cryptocurrency ETFs, according to records.

The SEC’s acknowledgments highlight how the agency has softened its stance on crypto since US President Donald Trump started his second term on Jan. 20. 

In addition to staking, the filings, submitted by Cboe and other exchanges, addressed proposed rule changes concerning options, in-kind redemptions and new types of altcoin funds.

Cboe has also asked permission to list Canary and WisdomTree’s proposed XRP (XRP) ETFs and support in-kind creations and redemptions for Fidelity’s Bitcoin (BTC) and ETH ETFs, among other proposed changes.

Magazine: MegaETH launch could save Ethereum… but at what cost?

European Union regulators are reportedly looking into a service offered by crypto exchange OKX that may have played a role in the laundering of $100 million in funds from the Bybit hack, according to Bloomberg.

A March 11 Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter claims that national watchdogs from the EU’s member states discussed the issue during a March 6 meeting hosted by the European Securities and Markets Authority’s Digital Finance Standing Committee. The issue appears to be OKX’s decentralized finance platform and wallet service.

On Jan. 27, OKX announced that it had secured a full Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license to operate across all EU member states under a unified regulatory framework. The question for EU regulators is whether two OKX services fall under the MiCA framework and, if so, whether the exchange could be penalized.

According to Bybit CEO Ben Zhou, nearly $100 million, or 40,233 Ether (ETH), from the $1.5 billion hack had been laundered through OKX’s Web3 proxy, with a portion of the funds now untraceable.

OKX’s wallet service has reached 53 million addresses and is able to connect to 100 blockchains. Fully decentralized platforms may be exempt from MiCA regulation, but according to the Bloomberg report, regulators from at least Austria and Croatia said OKX’s Web3 service should fall under EU rules.

Related: Bybit hacker launders 100% of stolen $1.4B crypto in 10 days

OKX denies EU investigation

In a statement posted to X, OKX refuted the claim there were any ongoing investigations by the EU, adding that “Bybit’s statements are spreading misinformation” and defending its Web3 wallet services.

Source: OKX

Haider Rafique, OKX Global’s chief marketing officer, added his own take: “We spoke to Bloomberg today and provided our statement refuting some of the alleged claims. It is preposterous to suggest that WE as a company would be involved in laundering stolen funds.”

The theft of $1.5 billion in ETH and ETH-related tokens from Bybit is the largest crypto hack to date. Crypto investigators have said that the Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacking ring, was responsible for the attack. According to Zhou, who declared war on the Lazarus Group after the hack, 3% of the stolen funds have been frozen, while 20% have gone dark.

Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis