Bonds of any kind are not safe if you need the capital before they mature (which SVB did) in the face of interest rate increases. The longer duration the bond, the harder it hurts when interest rates increase.
There are financial instruments like interest rate swaps specifically for banks to hedge against this exact scenario.
Let’s not extrapolate some simplified personal finance advice to financial professionals who should have known better
Your personal inability to understand the risk SVB took isn’t universal.
from the comments on HN it seems well-nigh universal.
If I can't access my funds because they're invested without my approval I don't give a fuck if you invested in immortality. I don't have to explain why I want it right fucking now. I'm buying hookers and coke why do you care give me my fucking money. Also I want my cut.
They didn't buy treasury bonds, they bought mortgage-backed securities with average duration of ~10 years (risky), why are people still wrongly repeating this?