Silicon Valley Bank served the world of startups and their investors. As the tech industry boomed, it funneled large amounts of its surging deposits into investments such as U.S. Treasurys, which were paying low interest rates at the time.
As the Federal Reserve began raising rates last year, venture capital dried up, leading startups to burn cash. To meet accelerating withdrawals, SVB was forced to sell off some of its government bonds at steep losses as yields on new bonds were much higher.
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