- The SEC has dropped its case against Ian Balina, the face of the 2018 ICO
- Balina was hired to promote the project, which ended up crashing upon launch, leading to the SEC suing him
- The ICO boom of 2017-18 saw Balina make people millionaires
Ian Balina, the king of the ICO in 2017 and 2018, has announced that the case against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been dropped. Balina was the face of the ICO movement, helping mint millionaires with coins that enjoyed huge exit pumps upon listing, but the SEC took umbrage at his promotion of Sparkster, a 2018 ICO that settled with the SEC in 2022 over the sale of securities. The news came through the X account of Balina’s latest project, Token Metrics, which called it “A huge moment for crypto and a possible shift in enforcement trends.”
Sparkster Sparked Chaos
Sparkster, a so-called decentralized software platform, launched in 2018 and enlisted Balina to promote the project—essentially to hype it up. He did just that, touting the potential gains investors could see after the mandatory year-long lockup period, but by the time that lockup expired in June 2019, Balina had apparently grown wary. In a video ahead of the token’s listing on a small decentralized exchange, he admitted, “I’m just hoping I don’t lose money on Sparkster, to be honest.”
What investors weren’t aware of was that Balina had struck a deal: for his $5 million investment, he received a 30% bonus—tokens he later attempted to offload privately in a Sparkster pool rather than through a public exchange. When Sparkster launched, it collapsed immediately, dropping 92% on its first day. Those who had bought in turned on Balina, blaming him for his role in hyping the project. In response, he claimed he was joining a class action lawsuit against Sparkster CEO Sajjad Daya, but nothing ever came of it.
Balina Off The Hook
More than three years after the Sparkster disaster, Balina was hit with allegations that he engaged in an “unregistered offering and promotion” of Sparkster’s SPRK tokens, with the SEC calling out his deceptive tactics:
Balina, a self-described crypto asset investor, promoter, and influencer, who claimed he could help people ‘make millions with initial coin offerings,’ failed to disclose the compensation he received from the issuer while he publicly promoted the tokens. He also failed to file a registration statement with the SEC for the tokens that he re-sold using an investing pool that he organized.
Very little was revealed regarding the lawsuit in the months following the filing, but it seems that Balina is benefitting from the new administration in the White House:
🚨 SEC CASE DROPPED. WE WON.
The SEC dropped its case against @DiaryofaMadeMan
A huge moment for crypto and a possible shift in enforcement trends.
The future of crypto is transparency and data-driven research.
We’ll keep leading the way at @TokenMetricsInc.
Thanks to…
— Token Metrics (@tokenmetricsinc) March 12, 2025
On the same day Balina was charged, Sparkster settled with the SEC. Without admitting or denying wrongdoing, CEO Sajjad Daya agreed to wipe out any remaining tokens, request their delisting from exchanges, and post the SEC’s order on the company’s social media channels. Sparkster also paid $30 million in disgorgement, $4.6 million in prejudgment interest, and a $500,000 civil penalty.
That $30 million represents the full value of the ETH raised during the ICO—funds Daya failed to cash out before the market crashed. By the time he finally sold, he got just $900,000.
