Bitcoin Daily: Anchorage Crypto Startup Sets Up Shop In Sioux Falls; Crypto Scam Steals $900K From Pension Fund

Senator Mike Rounds made an announcement at a Senate Banking Committee hearing regarding Facebook’s planned cryptocurrency on Tuesday (July 16), but it wasn’t related to Libra.

“Before I begin my questions, I just want to take a moment to commend the South Dakota Division of Banking for their forward-thinking and willingness to allow for innovation in the digital currency space. Another founding member of the Libra Association, Anchorage, just received permission from the Division of Banking to become a South Dakota chartered trust company,” he said, according to CoinDesk.

He added that Anchorage has chosen to open its second headquarters in Sioux Falls.

“South Dakota knows trust administration, and that kind of institutional memory means abundant access to legal counsel, auditors, office space and talent. There were others states we talked with where a trust company hadn’t been created in over a decade, and ‘over a decade’ was considered recent,” explained Anchorage CEO Nathan McCauley. “From top to bottom the state is really interested in seeing innovation happen. The South Dakota Trust Charter allows companies to operate on a national level so you can serve clients from every state. There is regulatory clarity that allows crypto natives to increase yields for clients through banking, staking and other kinds of participation. And surprisingly, South Dakota is one of the largest holders of institutional assets in the country, more than $3 trillion, according to the FDIC — three times the size of New York, followed only by Ohio.”

In other news, a retired couple in Australia have lost $900,000 due to a cryptocurrency scam.

Mike and Karen Taylor invested money on a website that enticed with guaranteed high returns. The couple went on to invest $900,000 from their their pension program. In just a few months, it had all disappeared with no return.

“That was the whole of our superannuation — that’s now gone,” Taylor said, according to Hard Fork.

Coinbase has reportedly closed its “Bundle,” which had “been deprecated,” with all assets in the bundle being “redistributed to their respective individual asset wallets” for users.

The Block was the first one to notice the shutdown. It also pointed out that less than two weeks after the launch of Coinbase Bundle, the company shut down an index fund for wealthy investors and institutions to devote resources to its new offering.

And Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak announced that he has invested in the Efforce project, a Malta-based blockchain company focused on the more efficient use of energy. He is also now a co-founder.

The startup’s other co-founder, Jacopo Visetti, said Malta “was the most open-minded country we could find in the world in terms of new technology,” according to CoinDesk.