One of the highly prominent rural banks from the state of Washington, Moonstone Bank, has made an announcement pertaining to its exposure to cryptocurrencies.
The particular bank has announced that it no longer wants anything to do with cryptocurrencies. The bank had shown great interest in exploring the cryptocurrency industry.
Moonstone Wants Out of Crypto
The Moonstone Bank had a strong relationship with Alameda Research, a major crypto trading platform that was the sister company of the FTX exchange.
To everyone’s shock, Alameda Research and its sister company, FTX ended up filing for bankruptcy back in November 2022. It happened as both brands ended up facing major financial losses.
The co-founder of both the cryptocurrency platforms is now behind bars and is to serve 115 life in prison.
The reports confirm that the Moonstone Bank had received a major investment from Alameda Research back when it was operating.
The records show that the bank had received an $11.5 million investment from the particular crypto trading platform.
However, it seems that the Moonstone Bank is no longer eager to explore the cryptocurrency sector. Instead, it wants to stick to its roots and fundamentals as a happy community bank.
According to the officials at the Moonstone Bank, their primary goal was always to make their bank a community bank. Seems like they will continue pursuing their mission and achieve their primary goal.
Moonstone Bank’s Announcement
It was on January 18, when the Moonstone Bank officials issued a public statement where they talked about the change in their strategy.
They announced that they have decided to make changes to their strategy and return to the basics. They want to pursue the same goal they had been pursuing before they entered the crypto space.
They revealed that they were forced to make changes due to the recent events that took place in the crypto industry. Their institute is heavily shaken by the incident as they were linked with one of the firms that crashed.
Due to recent developments, the crypto sector is undergoing many changes and it has become clear that the sector needs strong and firm regulatory guidelines.
If the sector needs to operate and survive, it needs to have a regulatory framework that has the ability to stick around for good.
Until that happens, they do not think that they would like to re-enter the particular space. They do not want to become part of another major crash or be impacted by it at any level whatsoever.
Time to Rebrand
The Moonstone Bank officials have announced that they will be reverting to their old operating name. They will shed the name they currently have and rebrand themselves as the Farmington State Bank.
This is the name that the bank adopted 135 years ago and had been using until it was changed to the Moonstone Bank recently.
They are eager to make the changes as soon as possible on their end but some of the legal stuff takes time. Therefore, they will need to be patient and give it some time before things are finalized.
According to the Moonstone Bank executives, the entire process may take up to a week or two. They have clarified that while the changes take place, none of the client/customer-related operations will be disrupted.
History of the Moonstone Bank
It was back in 2020 when Jean Chalopin, the chairman of another banking partner of FTX, Deltec, announced they had acquired the Moonstone Bank.
Right after the acquisition, it was revealed that Chalopin had acquired an investment worth $11.5 million from the (now) bankrupt crypto trading platform in January 2022.
The purpose of acquiring the investment was to completely change Moonstone Bank into a cryptocurrency services-providing entity.
Unfortunately, things fell through and the company was not able to fulfill the real goal it was so eager to achieve.