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Alameda Research-Connected Bank Exits Crypto Business
Farmington State Bank, a small community bank in the state of Washington, is also changing its name.
Updated May 9, 2023, 4:06 a.m. Published Jan 19, 2023, 8:33 p.m.
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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.
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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.
Read more: FTX’s Collapse Was a Crime, Not an Accident
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