Silicon Valley Bank fell in under 48 hours, undone by a bank run fought on Twitter
In March 2023, startups coordinated in group chats and on social media to pull $42 billion in a single day, the fastest deposit run in US banking history. SVB had parked customer deposits in long-dated bonds that lost value as interest rates rose, so it couldn't raise cash fast enough to cover withdrawals. Regulators seized the bank within two days and guaranteed every deposit to stop the panic from spreading to other banks.