An online church pastor is facing fraud charges for selling $3.2 million in "useless" cryptocurrency.

The pastor of an online church in Colorado is challenging allegations that he and his wife defrauded parishioners out of millions of dollars by selling cryptocurrencies that state securities regulators deem "essentially worthless."

Colorado Securities Commission (CSC) Tong Chan filed civil fraud charges against Alijo and Caitlin Regalado in Denver District Court last week, according to a statement from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies. The complaint accuses the Regalados of targeting members of the state's Christian community and enriching themselves by promoting a cryptocurrency token called INDXcoin through the Denver couple.

Commissioner Chan said in the statement that the pair sold "illegal and practically worthless" tokens from June 2022 to April 2023 through a cryptocurrency exchange they set up called Kingdom Wealth Exchange. He claimed the sale supported the couple's "royal lifestyle".

Kingdom Wealth Exchange, the only cryptocurrency exchange selling the INDX token, was inexplicably shut down on November 1, according to the Denver Post.

"Mr. Regaldo took advantage of the trust and faith of his Christian community and sold them with extravagant promises of wealth when he sold them essentially worthless cryptocurrencies," Chan said.

“God would have provided,” says the priest.

In the nine-minute video, Regalado admitted Friday that his claims that he received $1.3 million from investors were "true."

"We took God's word for it and sold a cryptocurrency that had no clear path," Regaldo said in the video, adding that he had to abandon his previous company to acquire INDXcoin. Also received divine instructions to do.

"Well, where is this liquidity going to come from, God says, 'Trust me,'" Regaldo said in the video.

"We always had the impression that God would help us because the source never ends," he added.

Regalado did not immediately respond to CBS MoneyWatch's request for comment.

According to the CSC, Regalados had no previous experience running a cryptocurrency exchange or creating virtual tokens before minting INDX two years ago. The agency noted in its statement that almost anyone can create cryptocurrency tokens.

According to cryptocurrency markets website CoinMarketCap, there are over 2 million cryptocurrencies as well as 701 cryptocurrency exchanges where investors can trade them.