Texas Serves Cease and Desist Order to Another Crypto Scam
- Exycrypto claims to offer crypto mining, binary options, and stock/options trading from Quebec.

The Texas State Securities Board has served a cease and desist order to a fraudulent cryptocurrency company, according to an official document.
The company in question is called ECY Crypto, aka Exycrypto, and claims to be based in La Cité-Limoilou, Quebec. Also named in the complaint are three individuals related to the enterprise. They are Morgan Nolan, Rafael Logan, and Melissa Spring, the company's promotions manager, business development manager, and strategy director respectively.
These people do not appear on the company's website. In fact, nobody does.
Looking at the website, the company appears to be confused as to what exactly it is offering to its "12,783" users. On the 'about us' page it claims to "provide hardware mining solutions and mining farm Hosting Hosting Hosting refers to the location of a broker’s technology stack. This is one of the most crucial elements of a brokerage that helps prevent the company from losing money due to being unable to mitigate latency risks.Brokers or exchanges are traditionally very vulnerable to latency arbitrage due to the speed with which financial markets move. The traditional datacenter locations for forex brokers are all centered at Equinix facilities around the globe. What Are the World’s Foremost Data Centers?Since most forex infrastructure is located at a couple of locations globally, it is wise for the broker to co-locate its infrastructure. The industry’s hotspots are London’s LD4 and LD5, New York NY4 and NY5, Tokyo’s TY3 and Hong Kong’s HK1.Hosting services can be handled internally directly with the datacenter or by using one of the available hosting solutions providers servicing the industry. The world’s most advanced data centers offer specialized products that support evolving equipment standards and technology requirements. This is essential for brokers or exchanges, many of which require a blend of physical security and power usage with turnkey relocation services and support globally.In addition to overall speed, such connections are also very helpful in minimizing security threats. Many companies even outside the finance industry prefer to rely on these types of advances hosting services.The advent of cloud hosting has also led to efficiency improvements, especially for execution and operations. This technology also gives banks a greater opportunity to drive out complexity. Hosting through the cloud also helps develop and launch new and bundled products and services, either on a stand-alone basis or in partnership. Hosting refers to the location of a broker’s technology stack. This is one of the most crucial elements of a brokerage that helps prevent the company from losing money due to being unable to mitigate latency risks.Brokers or exchanges are traditionally very vulnerable to latency arbitrage due to the speed with which financial markets move. The traditional datacenter locations for forex brokers are all centered at Equinix facilities around the globe. What Are the World’s Foremost Data Centers?Since most forex infrastructure is located at a couple of locations globally, it is wise for the broker to co-locate its infrastructure. The industry’s hotspots are London’s LD4 and LD5, New York NY4 and NY5, Tokyo’s TY3 and Hong Kong’s HK1.Hosting services can be handled internally directly with the datacenter or by using one of the available hosting solutions providers servicing the industry. The world’s most advanced data centers offer specialized products that support evolving equipment standards and technology requirements. This is essential for brokers or exchanges, many of which require a blend of physical security and power usage with turnkey relocation services and support globally.In addition to overall speed, such connections are also very helpful in minimizing security threats. Many companies even outside the finance industry prefer to rely on these types of advances hosting services.The advent of cloud hosting has also led to efficiency improvements, especially for execution and operations. This technology also gives banks a greater opportunity to drive out complexity. Hosting through the cloud also helps develop and launch new and bundled products and services, either on a stand-alone basis or in partnership. Read this Term to all kind of users," but then goes on to say "many other Altcoins including Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest trading market by volume. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) latest survey, the Forex market now turns over in excess of $5 trillion every day, with the most exchanges occurring between the US Dollar and the Euro (EUR/USD), followed by the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), then the US Dollar and Pound Sterling (GBP/USD). Ultimately, it is the very exchanging between currencies which causes a country’s currency to fluctuate in value in relation to another currency – this is known as the exchange rate. With regards to freely floating currencies, this is determined by supply and demand, such as imports and exports, and currency traders, such as banks and hedge funds. Emphasis on Retail Trading for ForexTrading the forex market for the purpose of financial gain was once the exclusive realm of financial institutions.But thanks to the invention of the internet and advances in financial technology from the 1990’s, almost anyone can now start trading this huge market. All one needs is a computer, an internet connection, and an account with a forex broker. Of course, before one starts to trade currencies, a certain level of knowledge and practice is essential. Once can gain some practice using demonstration accounts, i.e. place trades using demo money, before moving on to some real trading after attaining confidence. The main two fields of trading are known as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Technical analysis refers to using mathematical tools and certain patterns to help decide whether to buy or sell a currency pair, and fundamental analysis refers to gauging the national and international events which may potentially affect a country’s currency value. Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest trading market by volume. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) latest survey, the Forex market now turns over in excess of $5 trillion every day, with the most exchanges occurring between the US Dollar and the Euro (EUR/USD), followed by the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), then the US Dollar and Pound Sterling (GBP/USD). Ultimately, it is the very exchanging between currencies which causes a country’s currency to fluctuate in value in relation to another currency – this is known as the exchange rate. With regards to freely floating currencies, this is determined by supply and demand, such as imports and exports, and currency traders, such as banks and hedge funds. Emphasis on Retail Trading for ForexTrading the forex market for the purpose of financial gain was once the exclusive realm of financial institutions.But thanks to the invention of the internet and advances in financial technology from the 1990’s, almost anyone can now start trading this huge market. All one needs is a computer, an internet connection, and an account with a forex broker. Of course, before one starts to trade currencies, a certain level of knowledge and practice is essential. Once can gain some practice using demonstration accounts, i.e. place trades using demo money, before moving on to some real trading after attaining confidence. The main two fields of trading are known as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Technical analysis refers to using mathematical tools and certain patterns to help decide whether to buy or sell a currency pair, and fundamental analysis refers to gauging the national and international events which may potentially affect a country’s currency value. Read this Term Trade."
Another description reads: "The concept of EXYCRYPTO is Cryptofriendly and allows you to earn passively from the leading digital concepts."
On one page you can find investment plans with guaranteed weekly payouts:

According to one testimonial, the company offers stocks and bonds trading too. 'Emily' writes: "When I sold my granny’s house, I started to think how I can invest the money I got. I was looking for ways to invest when a friend introduced me to ExyCrypto. Frankly speaking, I didn’t know much about Stock and Options Trading, but it seemed to be a realistic way to make money and get tangible profits. At first I had my doubts but as I was watching my account grow every day. Now, having made $90k of profit, I’m looking to invest anew and telling all my friends to the same."
But wait, it gets even dodgier! On the terms and conditions page, you can find this paragraph:

Although in all fairness, at least these guys have the consideration to tell you in advance that they invent financial statistics when you trade binary options with them. This is not standard practice amongst binary options firms.
Cease and desist
According to the order, examples of activities with which the TSSB has taken issue include the following:
- The company has been advertising on LinkedIn, claiming that users will gain at least 10 percent profit per week.
- The company claims to be licensed in Canada.
- Nolan claims to be a UK citizen but is actually from Texas.
- All three defendants have been actively advertising the company via Whatsapp with false claims.
- The photographs in the testimonials are not actually customers of Exycrypto (!!!).
- The owners of the company have not been identified
- The company has not revealed any technical information about its mining activities
It deems Exycrypto to be fraudulently selling securities, and orders it to stop on pain of "a fine of not more than $5,000, or imprisonment in the penitentiary for not more than two years, or by both such fine and imprisonment."
Sorry, Jahmal!

Don't Mess With Texas
The TSSB has been very active in shooting down crypto-varmints, serving cease and desist orders to BitConnect and AriseBank in January alone.
In fact, in April it published the results of its investigation into 32 ventures that claimed to be associated somehow with cryptocurrency. It found that not one of them had a licence to sell securities, which is it how the authority defines tokens, that only eleven provided a physical address, and six appeared to be Ponzi schemes.
I'll leave you with some words of advice from the Lone Star State:

The Texas State Securities Board has served a cease and desist order to a fraudulent cryptocurrency company, according to an official document.
The company in question is called ECY Crypto, aka Exycrypto, and claims to be based in La Cité-Limoilou, Quebec. Also named in the complaint are three individuals related to the enterprise. They are Morgan Nolan, Rafael Logan, and Melissa Spring, the company's promotions manager, business development manager, and strategy director respectively.
These people do not appear on the company's website. In fact, nobody does.
Looking at the website, the company appears to be confused as to what exactly it is offering to its "12,783" users. On the 'about us' page it claims to "provide hardware mining solutions and mining farm Hosting Hosting Hosting refers to the location of a broker’s technology stack. This is one of the most crucial elements of a brokerage that helps prevent the company from losing money due to being unable to mitigate latency risks.Brokers or exchanges are traditionally very vulnerable to latency arbitrage due to the speed with which financial markets move. The traditional datacenter locations for forex brokers are all centered at Equinix facilities around the globe. What Are the World’s Foremost Data Centers?Since most forex infrastructure is located at a couple of locations globally, it is wise for the broker to co-locate its infrastructure. The industry’s hotspots are London’s LD4 and LD5, New York NY4 and NY5, Tokyo’s TY3 and Hong Kong’s HK1.Hosting services can be handled internally directly with the datacenter or by using one of the available hosting solutions providers servicing the industry. The world’s most advanced data centers offer specialized products that support evolving equipment standards and technology requirements. This is essential for brokers or exchanges, many of which require a blend of physical security and power usage with turnkey relocation services and support globally.In addition to overall speed, such connections are also very helpful in minimizing security threats. Many companies even outside the finance industry prefer to rely on these types of advances hosting services.The advent of cloud hosting has also led to efficiency improvements, especially for execution and operations. This technology also gives banks a greater opportunity to drive out complexity. Hosting through the cloud also helps develop and launch new and bundled products and services, either on a stand-alone basis or in partnership. Hosting refers to the location of a broker’s technology stack. This is one of the most crucial elements of a brokerage that helps prevent the company from losing money due to being unable to mitigate latency risks.Brokers or exchanges are traditionally very vulnerable to latency arbitrage due to the speed with which financial markets move. The traditional datacenter locations for forex brokers are all centered at Equinix facilities around the globe. What Are the World’s Foremost Data Centers?Since most forex infrastructure is located at a couple of locations globally, it is wise for the broker to co-locate its infrastructure. The industry’s hotspots are London’s LD4 and LD5, New York NY4 and NY5, Tokyo’s TY3 and Hong Kong’s HK1.Hosting services can be handled internally directly with the datacenter or by using one of the available hosting solutions providers servicing the industry. The world’s most advanced data centers offer specialized products that support evolving equipment standards and technology requirements. This is essential for brokers or exchanges, many of which require a blend of physical security and power usage with turnkey relocation services and support globally.In addition to overall speed, such connections are also very helpful in minimizing security threats. Many companies even outside the finance industry prefer to rely on these types of advances hosting services.The advent of cloud hosting has also led to efficiency improvements, especially for execution and operations. This technology also gives banks a greater opportunity to drive out complexity. Hosting through the cloud also helps develop and launch new and bundled products and services, either on a stand-alone basis or in partnership. Read this Term to all kind of users," but then goes on to say "many other Altcoins including Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest trading market by volume. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) latest survey, the Forex market now turns over in excess of $5 trillion every day, with the most exchanges occurring between the US Dollar and the Euro (EUR/USD), followed by the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), then the US Dollar and Pound Sterling (GBP/USD). Ultimately, it is the very exchanging between currencies which causes a country’s currency to fluctuate in value in relation to another currency – this is known as the exchange rate. With regards to freely floating currencies, this is determined by supply and demand, such as imports and exports, and currency traders, such as banks and hedge funds. Emphasis on Retail Trading for ForexTrading the forex market for the purpose of financial gain was once the exclusive realm of financial institutions.But thanks to the invention of the internet and advances in financial technology from the 1990’s, almost anyone can now start trading this huge market. All one needs is a computer, an internet connection, and an account with a forex broker. Of course, before one starts to trade currencies, a certain level of knowledge and practice is essential. Once can gain some practice using demonstration accounts, i.e. place trades using demo money, before moving on to some real trading after attaining confidence. The main two fields of trading are known as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Technical analysis refers to using mathematical tools and certain patterns to help decide whether to buy or sell a currency pair, and fundamental analysis refers to gauging the national and international events which may potentially affect a country’s currency value. Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest trading market by volume. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) latest survey, the Forex market now turns over in excess of $5 trillion every day, with the most exchanges occurring between the US Dollar and the Euro (EUR/USD), followed by the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), then the US Dollar and Pound Sterling (GBP/USD). Ultimately, it is the very exchanging between currencies which causes a country’s currency to fluctuate in value in relation to another currency – this is known as the exchange rate. With regards to freely floating currencies, this is determined by supply and demand, such as imports and exports, and currency traders, such as banks and hedge funds. Emphasis on Retail Trading for ForexTrading the forex market for the purpose of financial gain was once the exclusive realm of financial institutions.But thanks to the invention of the internet and advances in financial technology from the 1990’s, almost anyone can now start trading this huge market. All one needs is a computer, an internet connection, and an account with a forex broker. Of course, before one starts to trade currencies, a certain level of knowledge and practice is essential. Once can gain some practice using demonstration accounts, i.e. place trades using demo money, before moving on to some real trading after attaining confidence. The main two fields of trading are known as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Technical analysis refers to using mathematical tools and certain patterns to help decide whether to buy or sell a currency pair, and fundamental analysis refers to gauging the national and international events which may potentially affect a country’s currency value. Read this Term Trade."
Another description reads: "The concept of EXYCRYPTO is Cryptofriendly and allows you to earn passively from the leading digital concepts."
On one page you can find investment plans with guaranteed weekly payouts:

According to one testimonial, the company offers stocks and bonds trading too. 'Emily' writes: "When I sold my granny’s house, I started to think how I can invest the money I got. I was looking for ways to invest when a friend introduced me to ExyCrypto. Frankly speaking, I didn’t know much about Stock and Options Trading, but it seemed to be a realistic way to make money and get tangible profits. At first I had my doubts but as I was watching my account grow every day. Now, having made $90k of profit, I’m looking to invest anew and telling all my friends to the same."
But wait, it gets even dodgier! On the terms and conditions page, you can find this paragraph:

Although in all fairness, at least these guys have the consideration to tell you in advance that they invent financial statistics when you trade binary options with them. This is not standard practice amongst binary options firms.
Cease and desist
According to the order, examples of activities with which the TSSB has taken issue include the following:
- The company has been advertising on LinkedIn, claiming that users will gain at least 10 percent profit per week.
- The company claims to be licensed in Canada.
- Nolan claims to be a UK citizen but is actually from Texas.
- All three defendants have been actively advertising the company via Whatsapp with false claims.
- The photographs in the testimonials are not actually customers of Exycrypto (!!!).
- The owners of the company have not been identified
- The company has not revealed any technical information about its mining activities
It deems Exycrypto to be fraudulently selling securities, and orders it to stop on pain of "a fine of not more than $5,000, or imprisonment in the penitentiary for not more than two years, or by both such fine and imprisonment."
Sorry, Jahmal!

Don't Mess With Texas
The TSSB has been very active in shooting down crypto-varmints, serving cease and desist orders to BitConnect and AriseBank in January alone.
In fact, in April it published the results of its investigation into 32 ventures that claimed to be associated somehow with cryptocurrency. It found that not one of them had a licence to sell securities, which is it how the authority defines tokens, that only eleven provided a physical address, and six appeared to be Ponzi schemes.
I'll leave you with some words of advice from the Lone Star State:
