Similar in that we both deal with financial products, but I also think you may be tripping a bit

DC started by issuing fiat backed cryptoassets as ERC20 Ethereum tokens. This is similar to Tether on Bitcoin with their USDT, but much more powerful as it enables customers to use fiat in Ethereum smart contracts (as payment, deposits in escrow, things we haven't thought of yet). We've expanded this to Bitcoin, with BTC.DC, that similarly allows you to use Bitcoin on Ethereum.

Our current development effort is IDEX, where we're providing a secure place to trade these and other Ethereum tokens. IDEX represents an improvement in security over existing exchanges. Traders control their funds using a private key, and there is no central repository of funds for a hacker to target. But like all exchanges it still has to have liquidity, and that's the main goal of selling DVIP. The more customers and liquidity we have, the more valuable the DC network becomes to us and to those who use it.

Iconomi, on the other hand, is creating a platform for managing portfolios of all types of cryptocurrencies. Iconomi could potentially use IDEX for trading, and DC assets for on-chain cash management and real time proof-of-reserves.