Alameda-Connected Bank Exits Crypto Business

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. Alongside, the lender is dropping the Moonstone Bank brand and will do business as Farmington State Bank going forward.

Eyebrows were raised after the collapse of FTX when court documents showed the crypto exchange’s sister company Alameda Research in Jan. 22 purchased an $11.5 million stake in Farmington. It was a sizable amount, noted American Banker, given that Farmington generally had only about $10 million in assets over the last decade.

The interest didn’t stop there as it turned out Farmington was owned through a holding company by French investor Jean Chalopin, the chairman and largest shareholder of Bahamian bank Deltec, which was one of the earlier lenders to get involved with crypto and counted FTX as a client.

Read more: FTX’s Collapse Was a Crime, Not an Accident

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