Alameda Research-Connected Bank Exits Crypto Business
TL;DR Farmington State Bank is returning to its role as a community lender and dropping its Moonstone Bank brand. The bank was recently purchased by Alameda Research, the sister company of FTX, for $11.5 million. However, due to the collapse of FTX, Farmington State Bank has decided to abandon its crypto business and return to traditional banking.
Farmington State Bank, which does business under the Moonstone Bank name, is returning to its longtime role as a community lender and eschewing the crypto business, the company said in a press release Thursday.
The bank, which is based in Farmington, Wash., a tiny town in the eastern part of the state, is dropping the Moonstone Bank brand and will do business as Farmington State Bank instead.
Eyebrows were raised after the collapse of FTX when court documents showed the crypto exchange's sister company Alameda Research purchased an $11.5 million stake in Farmington State Bank last January. It was a sizable amount, American Banker noted, given that Farmington generally had only about $10 million in assets over the last decade.
Farmington was owned through a holding company by French banking executive Jean Chalopin. Chalopin is the chairman of Bahamas-based Deltec Bank & Trust, whose parent company, Deltec International Group, reportedly received a $50 million loan from FTX.