US Pastor Justifies Scam Tokens as ‘Divine Will’

Eli Regalado, pastor of the online Victorious Grace Church in Colorado, admitted to creating a fraudulent cryptocurrency project, claiming it was “God’s directive to enrich the congregation.” 

In 2022, Regalado and his partner Caitlin launched the INDXcoin token and began promoting it among their followers.

According to the Colorado Securities Commission, from June 2022 to April 2023, the project raised nearly $3.2 million from over 300 investors through the Kingdom Wealth Exchange platform.

Regalado later targeted Christian communities in Denver, asserting that investors would become wealthy by investing in INDXcoin.

The pastor claimed that half of the $3.2 million was used for tax payments, while a significant amount went towards home renovations “commanded by God.”

Authorities found that, in addition to renovations, the couple spent much of the $1.3 million on cosmetic dentistry, luxury handbags, snowmobiles, and vacations.

The Kingdom Wealth Exchange project closed in November 2023, allegedly due to “insufficient funds to maintain internal servers.” In the same announcement, Regalado instructed INDXcoin holders to “refrain from selling the token as directed by God.”

On January 18, Colorado authorities charged Regalado and Caitlin with fraud for their involvement in the issuance and marketing of the sham token.

In a video message, the pastor confessed to “pocketing $1.3 million,” but claimed he did so only because “the Lord told him to give his followers a tenfold return.”

Back in 2017, a Florida pastor, Trevon Gross, and Russian-born programmer Yuri Lebedev were found guilty of participating in the illegal Coin.mx scheme.