How Silicon Valley's Bank Imploded
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/epvg8a/how-silicon-valleys-bank-imploded
A previously well-respected and historically rather boring bank with such deep ties to the tech and venture world that it literally named itself “Silicon Valley Bank” has suddenly and dramatically shut down, a startling conclusion to one of the most fast-moving, internet-fueled bank runs of the 21st century. Now, questions are arising about whether this is merely a one-off catastrophe or a sign of greater economic issues yet to be unearthed. No one, it seems, has the answers.
There had been murmurs that something might be amiss at Silicon Valley Bank for a little while, but the roller coaster really started on Wednesday. That day, the company announced a series of decisions: It had sold $21 billion of investments (basically everything it could) at a $1.8 billion loss after taxes, it was borrowing $15 billion, and it planned an emergency stock sale to raise another $2.25 billion. At issue was—what else?—inflation, which had sunk the value of long-term bonds and mortgage-backed securities the bank had purchased during the rollicking easy money era. Now, startups were less flush and started to pull more money out of their accounts, which meant the bank needed more liquidity, i.e. real money, to hand out.