I'm feeling disagreeable so here goes:
I think the narrative that "Silicon Valley broke its own bank and it's another example of how tech is broken" is complete hokum, and exonerates the actual villains here.
Bank runs happen all the time.
They are what happen when you have insufficient bank regulation.
The bipartisan bill of 2018 that let SVB dodge good banking rules is the actual problem here.
This is not a tech issue, it's a banking one.
@mimsical both things are true.
yes the banking regulations loosened — by silicon valley specifically demanding them — which made the initial error possible
but a handful of VCs called up their portfolio companies and triggered a bank run of billions within hours — something virtually impossible to trigger for any normal bank w normal customers — when the bank would’ve been able to recover from the MINOR deficit if given a little bit of time & ecosystem support
Christopher Mims
Amy Hoy
elle mundy