I Promise To Be Done With SVB Soon

What @DavidSacks and these other hype men for special treatment don't get is that the country solved the problem of uninsured deposits for small business, unless you happened to be a Silicon Valley Bank customer. They disrupted banking as well as they disrupted everything else.

— David Dayen (@ddayen) March 12, 2023

But probably not soon enough.

VCs *required* that all money from its startups be placed at SVB. I don't know the reason—that needs more reporting. But ICS doesn't appear to have been an option, though it seems SVB had the functionality (it either wasn't advertised much, or actively discouraged by VCs)

— David Dayen (@ddayen) March 12, 2023

Or they just assume America is so backwards that nobody else but them ever considered that $250k is a low limit for small & medium sized businesses, and they, the big-brained people, must fashion a solution. (one that already exists; this is Uber reinventing the bus)

— David Dayen (@ddayen) March 12, 2023

One other point: SVB had stable assets that have gone down slightly in value. This hair on fire frenzy is over an amount of money that VCs have and could float if they're so worried about the end of startups.

— David Dayen (@ddayen) March 12, 2023

Just incredible to me how little self-proclaimed experts know. This is Geithner's ghostwriter. The third option beyond BofA or mattresses is a private-sector solution that has been around 20 years and works perfectly fine. Any decent risk manager knows it.https://t.co/xFse2WFjJ0

— David Dayen (@ddayen) March 12, 2023

I especially like the bit about Roku having $500 million in one bank. I know nothing about finance and I know better than that.

And I think the conclusions 1-3 are: “All of the above.” At least until I’m shown good reason to think otherwise. (And considering how much SV reportedly admires Elmo’s management skills, getting past no. 1 alone is going to be a very heavy lift.)