“Nothing really adds up,” said crypto consultant Chet Long. He made the comment on a recent Twitter Spaces call while grilling an executive from a mysterious bank. The bank, once called Farmington State Bank but now known as Moonstone, had accepted an $11.5 million investment in March from Alameda Research, the hedge fund tied to the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX.
At the time Alameda took around a 10% stake in Moonstone, the Washington State bank was worth a meager $5.7 million—smaller than a minnow by banking standards—and had no experience in crypto or fintech. Prior to the FTX investment, it had spent most of its existence lending money to farmers from a one-room stone building. In 2020, it suddenly pivoted to cannabis and digital assets.
