When Bittrex listed ION on their exchange, some raised questions about the relationship between, on one hand, ION and ionomy (the digital currency, and the digital gaming company, respectively), and, on the other hand, Paycoin and G.A.W (the digital currency that traded as XPY, and the defunct company being prosecuted by federal government and customers of perpetrating a Ponzi scheme, respectively).

We think we can clear this up:

  1. Some of the people who have contributed their labor to the ionomy project, including the development of ION, were customers of G.A.W. As customers, ALL were on the victim side of the fraud.
  2. None of the participants in the ionomy project were ever involved in the perpetration of the G.A.W. fraud.
  3. It was only after G.A.W. collapsed that any members of our team attempted to help salvage the development of XPY.

Just to be clear:

Was anybody on the ION Team Employed by G.A.W.?
No. At no time was any member of the ION or the ionomy team employed by G.A.W. Miners or Homero Josh Garza, nor were any involved in the creation and launch of Paycoin.

Is ION the same thing as XPY?
No. ION is a coin that is wholly independent from Paycoin. Paycoin still exists as its own coin and blockchain. ION was not a coin swap, hard fork, or rebrand in any way, shape, or form.
During the Initial Coin Offering, some ION was sold for BTC, and some ION was traded for XPY, ETH, DOGE, and LTC at fair market value. Over 335 BTC was raised during the ION ICO.

Members of the ionomy project have sought to avoid making the mistakes other digital currency enterprises have made. We have developed a business model that hasn’t been tried before. We look forward to an opportunity to allow the efforts we’ve invested in developing digital games and an intricate digital economy to speak for itself.

Have more questions? Join ionomy slack. We’d be happy to address them.