These are two different projects? or are they connected?

I believe they are connected. When trying to login to the Bitconnect site, the BitconnectX splash screen also came up.
Bitconnect is now offering to let you buy BitconnectX tokens with your Bitconnect (BCC) token at the value of $150 per BCC token.
This indicates to me that they are closely linked.
After what has happened with Bitconnect, I would advise extreme caution with BitconnectX.
My opinion...