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Comment by ofslidingfeet | Hacker News Reader

Never give up an opportunity to demonize real monetary systems, the good guys.

Be venture capitalist depositing millions in uninsured capital at your VC bank while completely ignoring interest rate risk because you think your buddies can just bully the federal government:

Win infinity free insurance from the U.S. Treasury.

Store capital in the new technology receiving tacit endorsement from the establishment via institutional buy-in, super bowl ads, etc.:

Go bankrupt and then get gloated at by a bunch of midwit redditors.

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To me, Peter Thiel was "the one that got away" when it came to SVB.

Yes, it was known that SVB had some "concerns", but Thiel, like Nostradamus, laid out an amazingly specific set of instructions to companies he had a hand (or dollar) in:

Wednesday after hours he sent a missive to all his funded companies: "Every single dollar of your company accounts must be out of SVB by COB tomorrow".

Separately, to another one of his companies: "I need you to have a website setup that can accept applications for business bridge loans, I and it needs to be pushed and live by noon on Friday".

Lo and behold, regulators showed up at SVB at 9am on Friday morning and the doors were locked by 11am.

Very remarkably specific, and fortuitous timing by Thiel.

Even if he did have specific information, some might say, so what? He has a right to protect his money, and money he has invested. Sure he does.

But "withdraw all of your money from SVB and do it tomorrow by COB" caused a bank run.

And causing a bank run is a federal felony.

For which no-one will bat an eyelid.

> Wednesday after hours he sent a missive to all his funded companies: "Every single dollar of your company accounts must be out of SVB by COB tomorrow".

I can't find a reference for that quote anywhere online. Could you share your source?

The FDIC almost only does bank closures on Friday (see https://www.fdic.gov/resources/resolutions/bank-failures/fai... - there were a few non-Friday closures after the SVB failure but none before), the guess that SVB would be closed on Friday wasn't that fortuitous.

What law says that causing a bank run is a felony? And what bank are you talking about?

I stand corrected. Up until 2012, it was indeed a felony in California, but there questions of accuracy of information and freedom of speech:

> In California, there’s been an anti-bank run law on the books since 1917 prohibiting a person from spreading false information about a bank’s condition.

that the Supreme Court struck down.

> Many states have laws on the books prohibiting anyone from making disparaging comments about a particular bank’s financial condition.

Sources: https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Circle-Bastiat/2012/0...

https://www.americanbanker.com/news/court-strikes-down-law-d...

Both made bad decisions and should lose their money and be mocked by midwit redditors.

The difference is FTX was criminal negligence, SVB ordinary negligence. SVB was due to bad bets the bank was legally allowed to make, FTX was due to bad bets made illegally with stolen money.

The federal reserve's plans to hike interest rates were never, at any point, a secret.

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