Paycoin (XPY) / GAW Miners
A 2014–2015 virtual currency created by Homero 'Josh' Garza via GAW Miners/ZenMiner. The SEC and DOJ said it was a Ponzi scheme built on 'Hashlets' that didn't exist plus false claims of a $100M reserve. Garza pleaded guilty to wire fraud; victims lost $9M+.
Also known as: Paycoin, PayCoin, XPY, GAW Miners, ZenMiner, Josh Garza, Homero Joshua Garza
Summary
PayCoin (XPY) was a virtual currency created in late 2014 by Homero Joshua "Josh" Garza through his companies GAW Miners and ZenMiner. The SEC and DOJ said Garza ran a Ponzi scheme: he sold "Hashlets" — shares of cloud-mining power that largely did not exist — then launched PayCoin, falsely claiming a $100 million reserve would keep its price above $20 and touting bogus partnerships with major companies. [1][2]
Outcome
PayCoin's price collapsed and investors lost more than $9 million. Garza pleaded guilty to wire fraud and was sentenced in 2018 to 21 months in prison, followed by supervised release, and ordered to pay about $9.18 million in restitution. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
People & entities involved
Sources (2)
See also
$MELANIA tokenMarket manipulationA Solana memecoin announced by Melania Trump on Jan 19, 2025. Per FT analysis, ~24 wallets bought in minutes before the public announcement and netted ~$99.6M as retail piled in; the token then fell 95%+. Early buys were traced to wallets linked to $LIBRA figure Hayden Davis. No charges have been filed.
$TRUMP tokenMarket manipulationA Solana memecoin launched days before Donald Trump's second inauguration (Jan 2025). Trump-linked entities hold 80% of supply and earned $320M+ in fees while ~760,000 mostly-retail wallets lost money; a 'dinner with the president' promotion for top holders drew conflict-of-interest scrutiny. The 'scam' label is contested and no charges have been filed.
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.