SEC Beats Crypto Influencer Over Unregistered Token Sales (1)

Crypto influencer Ian Balina violated US securities law by selling and offering to sell to investors the SPRK token, a federal judge ruled, finding the token was an unregistered security.

Balina, the CEO of the Austin, Texas-based firm Token Metrics, said he was outside the US when he allegedly promoted and sold the tokens. He argued the Securities and Exchange Commission was trying to extend its jurisdiction abroad.

But US securities laws apply because Balina targeted US investors and some buyers were in the country, Judge David Ezra in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas said ...