What's Going on With Silvergate and Signature Bank?

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Elise: Silicon Valley Bank is an unusual bank in some ways, especially when these people are predicting wider collapse. But it also had its own kind of unique model and its own unique recklessness perhaps. Silvergate and Signature were really essential to the crypto banking ecosystem. They acted as almost like an internal marketplace within each bank where your 1600 crypto clients could do a lot of business with each other.

Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, how it’s part of a larger crisis in the tech sector, and why it’s turning people against the industry’s venture capitalists.

Jacob Silverman is a journalist and the host of The Naked Emperor, a new CBC podcast. Follow Jacob on Twitter at @SilvermanJacob.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Jacob wrote about the lessons from the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in the Globe and Mail.
Paris wrote about how the SVB collapse should be a radicalizing moment against venture capitalists.
A video circulated about Jason Calacanis bragging about SVB offering him favorable banking services.
A screenshot shows a founder complaining about Chase closing his bank account because his company doesn’t have a physical office, saying SVB never required one.
Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund told its portfolio companies to pull their money out of SVB before its collapse.
SVB’s President pushed for Congress to reduce regulations and oversight on banks like SVB as it grew.

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