Gaffney crypto startup gears up for additional $280M investment.

Tony Tate thinks that 2022 is a turning point not just any turning point, but the largest transfer of wealth in human history.

That's one reason why the Easley native has come back to his old stomping grounds after more than two decades in south Florida, why he's invested close to $80 million in Gaffney and why he's seeking to cultivate cryptocurrency literacy among students as young as 12 years old.

Th initial investment helped Litchain establish a high-security property with bitcoin mining "pods," reminiscent of ventilated shipping containers, for sale that can be transported to private investors or financial institutions anywhere in the world, according to the company. The pods are also paired with mining advising services covering land acquisition, energy costs and site construction.

The $80 million invested last year also enabled the Litchain team to cut the ribbon on an educational and administration hub at Gaffney's 189 Hyatt St. in March: the keystone in Tate's mission.

"When you don't know something, you have a natural tendency to fear it, but this is nothing that you need to fear," Tate, CEO of Litchain and a Sotheby's real estate adviser, told GSA Business Report. "People need to wrap their minds around crypto before the rest of the world wraps their arms around it."

He believes crypto is the answer in an era where the greenback buys 70% of what it could in 2019.

"But if you don't understand what it is, it's just a bunch of ones and zeroes to you," he said. "But if you don't understand that, you don't know how it affects your family's decision as to how they're going to save for your future or how they're going to save for their children's future. It's not going to affect how they can own real estate."

Yet there is a Grand Canyon-sized chasm in terms of crypto education and its prescience in today's economy, he said. Higher education hasn't had the chance to catch up.

Having served as a blockchain analyst for six years in Florida, Tate shared stories of helping clients transform their stimulus check into ownership of a home they once rented, prompting him to launch 27 financial literacy courses on litchain.com with plans in the works for secondary education classes, college curriculum and crypto kids camps set to launch this summer.

Within two months of his move to Gaffney, Litchain struck up a partnership with Limestone University and Spartanburg Community College to discuss a curriculum rollout. The startup will offer a $10,000...

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