Alameda Research is the sister company of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. Caroline Ellison, the rumored girlfriend of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, headed the firm.
Alameda invested around $11.5 million in FBH, the parent company of Farmington State Bank and had acquired approximately 10% of the company’s stakes.
Farmington State Bank in Washington State had a single branch until the end of 2022 and was operating with only three employees. At the same time, the bank wasn’t offering online services and did not offer credit cards.
According to Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Farmington was the nation’s 26th-smallest bank out of 4800, with a net worth of $5.7 million simultaneously.
Farmington has over one crypto connection. The bank was bought by FBH under the chairmanship of Jean Chalopin 3 years back in 2020. Jean is also co-creator of the 1980s cartoon cop Inspector Gadget and chairman of Deltec Bank, headquartered in the Bahamas as FTX was.
Before the acquisition, Farmington’s deposits had been stable at approximately $10 million for a decade, according to FDIC data. But in the third quarter of 2022, the bank’s deposits grew nearly 600 percent to $84 million. The total increase of over $71 million came from just four new accounts.
Crunchbase notes that Alameda Research has invested in over 304 companies, and the firm’s last investment was on November 8, 2022, when a Fordefi raised $18M.
The FTX subsidiary has around seven distinct investments; its last investment was in NEAR when the company raised $150M on January 13, 2022.
Semafor, a New York-based media startup, raised $25 million in a seed round in October 2022, of which $10 million came from SBF.
The news startup is trying to buy back the stake of SBF’s $10 million, by raising money from other sources.
Sam Bankman-Fried and his companies are known to have been regular contributors to media groups and politicians. This money was used either to influence and manipulate regulation in its favor or to get general audiences to invest in its exchange.
In the second week of January 2023, McCaffrey resigned from his position as the Chief Executive Officer of The Block. Now, Bobby Morgan is the governing body of the media outlet.
In his Medium post, Bobby wrote, “Those loans, amounting to $27M, were made by Alameda Research, and the funds were used to effect the restructuring and provide working capital directly to The Block.”
FTX and Alameda have severely affected the crypto market, and no sign of recovery has been seen for the upcoming few months.
Steve Anderson is an Australian crypto enthusiast. He is a specialist in management and trading for over 5 years. Steve has worked as a crypto trader, he loves learning about decentralisation, understanding the true potential of the blockchain.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2023/01/23/alameda-researchs-investment-in-farmington-bank-revealed/