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Silicon Valley Was Unstoppable. Now It’s a House of Cards.
Why Silicon Valley Bank collapsed—and what it means for finance, tech, and more.
Photo: cdn.theatlantic.com
How It Happened
“On January 18, a prominent financial newsletter noted that if Silicon Valley Bank were liquidated that day, ‘it would be functionally underwater,’” Jerusalem Demsas writes. “So why didn't anyone do something?” Our writers explore how SVB colapsed.
What It Means
We are still learning exactly how much of this industry’s genius was a mere LIRP, or low-interest-rate phenomenon, Derek Thompson writes.
If it gets bailed out, will every bank be too big to fail? Whispers about insolvency. A bank run. A desperate attempt to raise funds. A bank failure. Market gyrations. Concerns about financial contagion. History is repeating itself. Today, California regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank, a lender …
We are still learning exactly how much of this industry’s genius was a mere LIRP, or low-interest-rate phenomenon. Who killed SVB—and triggered the mini–banking crisis sweeping the United States? You could blame the bank’s executives, who bet $80 billion on long-term bonds that bled value when …
The world’s first online-inspired bank run doesn’t bode well for the next major crisis Financial panics are nothing new. But the strange little panic we’re enduring—one that started last week with a massive bank run causing the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and that continued this morning with big …
