5 ms·

I looked into this. They used to do business as Geniome Bank, and their job ads are for "crypto and marijuana". Almost no publicity, though they sponsored a few

by graeme 4y ago

I looked into this. They used to do business as Geniome Bank, and their job ads are for "crypto and marijuana". Almost no publicity, though they sponsored a few marijuana events. Chalopin usually shies away from press, so his personal involvement is odd. His son is also the chief digital officer of the company. Another curiosity is the old Farmington team is still there, including the presdient, and they still appear to be making agricultural loans, same as they've done for ~150 years. The Geniome/Moonstone operations appear to be based out of Seattle. Another curiosity not mentioned in this article is that Noah Perlman, COO of Gemini, is on the board of directors along with Chalopin. "Geniome" is the trademark of a UK based company also owned by Deltec/Chalopin: IFSG. So, Chalopin has an unusal degree of personal involvement here. Deltec previously invested in a small bank for money laundering purposes, so that could have been what they were going after here, but the amounts seem small. Could have been part of a larger plan which collapsed with FTX. They're scrubbing employee Linkedin's now.

xwolfi 4y ago
Deltec sent most of USDT ever created to Alameda Research: https://protos.com/tether-papers-crypto-stablecoin-usdt-investigation-analysis/ https://protos.com/tether-papers-crypto-stablecoin-usdt-inve... This is a conspiracy !!
bombcar 4y ago
There have been a number of cases in fintech of basically “buying” a banking license by buying some small bank.
- graeme 4y ago
  That would appear to be the case here, with the difference being that the purchaser in this case is a foreign bank known for its ties to a large criminal enterprise (Tether/Bitfinex)
VagueMag 4y ago
It's a very "wow the simulation is running wild" sensation to see that someone who helped create a Keystone Kops-style cartoon I loved as a kid is at the center of all this stuff where the regulators and investigators are seemingly totally out to lunch.
- graeme 4y ago
  You may enjoy "inspector Tether". The "Fiat Currency --> Crypto Loans" bit was prescient, in light of knowledge that Tether's largest "customer", FTX, was a total fraud. Highly unlikely FTX gave Tether the $36 billion in USD that Tether claimed. https://twitter.com/caspiancey/status/1348781201146826753 https://twitter.com/caspiancey/status/1348781201146826753
Animats 4y ago
Oh, joy. Looking at the Internet Archive's copy of "moonstonebank.com" from before the crash: CEO: Ron Oliveira. There's a new CEO now. Lots of crypto-related material. Most useful links end at "Request Early Access" or "Contact Us". It doesn't look like they really wanted customers. > Could have been part of a larger plan which collapsed with FTX. Unclear. The bank may have been used by FTX in some way. But it looks like tying it into the FTX empire in a way visible to customers didn't happen.
- hericium 4y ago
  > It doesn't look like they really wanted customers. Elon blabbered about making Twitter a bank to avoid bankrupcy.
  - hef19898 4y ago
    Yeah, a person that ognored rules from both, the SEC and FTC, is a perfect candidate to run a bank. Sounds plausible so, in the sense of that being Elon's plan.
- graeme 4y ago
  Huh, that's very unusual. Swapping the CEO. Incidentally Gary Rever was the one outside director who came on the board with Chalopin during the takeover. Perlman and Olveira joined the following year.
TacticalCoder 4y ago
> "Geniome" is the trademark of a UK based company also owned by Deltec/Chalopin: IFSG. So, Chalopin has an unusal degree of personal involvement here. And Deltec is a centerpiece behind the tether (USDT)/Bitfinex scam. People who actually described the Alameda/FTX ponzi scam for what it was since day one have always said it: Alameda/FTX is just a front set up by tether/Bitfinex, made to precisely hide more market manipulation. The links are becoming clearer: the top lawyers at respectively both Bitfinex and FTX used to be colleagues who... Worked at a firm convicted of fraud for they stole $50 million out of players in an online poker scam (the operator could see the players' cards and would play against them). FTX was, conveniently, a few streets away from Deltec in the Bahamas. Everything checks out: countless "little" companies to try to funnel the money out of the US (including small banks which, as is now a fact, shared/exchanged between tether and FTX), the Bahamas, the lawyers... It's a little gang who all know each other very well. Now I don't think they thought FTX would fall but they had the setup made so that should it fall, it'd act as a fuse shielding tether/Deltec.
- rosnd 4y ago
  >FTX was, conveniently, a few streets away from Deltec in the Bahamas. Nassau is not very big, it's hardly surprising that two big companies working in finance would be close to each other.
- williamcotton 4y ago
  How do you know any of this?
  - graeme 4y ago
    Well, the Protos Papers established that FTX/Alameda were Tether's largest customer. And they acquired 36 billion Tethers. Now Alameda is proven to be a fraud. So, this basically eliminates the possiblity that they paid cash for those Tethers. Also, Tether admitted to lying in its settlement with the New York Attorney General https://protos.com/tether-papers-crypto-stablecoin-usdt-investigation-analysis/ https://protos.com/tether-papers-crypto-stablecoin-usdt-inve...

by graeme 4y ago

xwolfi 4y ago

Deltec sent most of USDT ever created to Alameda Research: https://protos.com/tether-papers-crypto-stablecoin-usdt-investigation-analysis/ https://protos.com/tether-papers-crypto-stablecoin-usdt-inve... This is a conspiracy !!

bombcar 4y ago

There have been a number of cases in fintech of basically “buying” a banking license by buying some small bank.

graeme 4y ago
That would appear to be the case here, with the difference being that the purchaser in this case is a foreign bank known for its ties to a large criminal enterprise (Tether/Bitfinex)

VagueMag 4y ago

It's a very "wow the simulation is running wild" sensation to see that someone who helped create a Keystone Kops-style cartoon I loved as a kid is at the center of all this stuff where the regulators and investigators are seemingly totally out to lunch.

graeme 4y ago
You may enjoy "inspector Tether". The "Fiat Currency --> Crypto Loans" bit was prescient, in light of knowledge that Tether's largest "customer", FTX, was a total fraud. Highly unlikely FTX gave Tether the $36 billion in USD that Tether claimed. https://twitter.com/caspiancey/status/1348781201146826753 https://twitter.com/caspiancey/status/1348781201146826753

Animats 4y ago

Oh, joy. Looking at the Internet Archive's copy of "moonstonebank.com" from before the crash: CEO: Ron Oliveira. There's a new CEO now. Lots of crypto-related material. Most useful links end at "Request Early Access" or "Contact Us". It doesn't look like they really wanted customers. > Could have been part of a larger plan which collapsed with FTX. Unclear. The bank may have been used by FTX in some way. But it looks like tying it into the FTX empire in a way visible to customers didn't happen.

hericium 4y ago
> It doesn't look like they really wanted customers. Elon blabbered about making Twitter a bank to avoid bankrupcy.
- hef19898 4y ago
  Yeah, a person that ognored rules from both, the SEC and FTC, is a perfect candidate to run a bank. Sounds plausible so, in the sense of that being Elon's plan.
graeme 4y ago
Huh, that's very unusual. Swapping the CEO. Incidentally Gary Rever was the one outside director who came on the board with Chalopin during the takeover. Perlman and Olveira joined the following year.

TacticalCoder 4y ago

> "Geniome" is the trademark of a UK based company also owned by Deltec/Chalopin: IFSG. So, Chalopin has an unusal degree of personal involvement here. And Deltec is a centerpiece behind the tether (USDT)/Bitfinex scam. People who actually described the Alameda/FTX ponzi scam for what it was since day one have always said it: Alameda/FTX is just a front set up by tether/Bitfinex, made to precisely hide more market manipulation. The links are becoming clearer: the top lawyers at respectively both Bitfinex and FTX used to be colleagues who... Worked at a firm convicted of fraud for they stole $50 million out of players in an online poker scam (the operator could see the players' cards and would play against them). FTX was, conveniently, a few streets away from Deltec in the Bahamas. Everything checks out: countless "little" companies to try to funnel the money out of the US (including small banks which, as is now a fact, shared/exchanged between tether and FTX), the Bahamas, the lawyers... It's a little gang who all know each other very well. Now I don't think they thought FTX would fall but they had the setup made so that should it fall, it'd act as a fuse shielding tether/Deltec.

rosnd 4y ago
>FTX was, conveniently, a few streets away from Deltec in the Bahamas. Nassau is not very big, it's hardly surprising that two big companies working in finance would be close to each other.
williamcotton 4y ago
How do you know any of this?
- graeme 4y ago
  Well, the Protos Papers established that FTX/Alameda were Tether's largest customer. And they acquired 36 billion Tethers. Now Alameda is proven to be a fraud. So, this basically eliminates the possiblity that they paid cash for those Tethers. Also, Tether admitted to lying in its settlement with the New York Attorney General https://protos.com/tether-papers-crypto-stablecoin-usdt-investigation-analysis/ https://protos.com/tether-papers-crypto-stablecoin-usdt-inve...