Silicon Valley Bank's Problems

Silicon Valley Bank's problems began with the investment boom that followed the start of the pandemic in early 2020. As the first stopbank for California venture capital firms and startups, SVB was flooded with billions of deposits from young companies flush with investors cash. So much money came in, almost $130 billion in new deposits in 2020 and 2021, that the bank just couldn't lend it all out. Instead of making loans they invested the money in long term bonds which paid some interest and were safe.