What a stunning week of news this was. If I had told you last weekend that Silicon Valley Bank would be out of business within a week you would not have believed me. But it has happened. The 16th largest bank in America and the leading bank (by far) for fintech companies was shut down by the California Department of Financial Protection & Innovation and the FDIC created the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Santa Clara (DINB) to wind down the bank. Here are what I consider to be the top ten fintech news stories of the past week.
Banks Lose Billions in Value After Tech Lender SVB Stumbles from The Wall Street Journal – The first hint that something was seriously wrong at Silicon Valley Bank started circulating late Wednesday but most people thought these were problems the bank could overcome.
FDIC Creates a Deposit Insurance National Bank of Santa Clara to Protect Insured Depositors of Silicon Valley Bank, Santa Clara, California from the FDIC – The announcement that stunned the banking and tech worlds yesterday just before noon ET.
Startup Bank Had a Startup Bank Run from Bloomberg – The inimitable Matt Levine breaks down what actually happened as only he can.
Silicon Valley Bank failure could wipe out ‘a whole generation of startups’ from NPR – This is the big unknown. Even if a white knight is found for Silicon Valley Bank this weekend they were such an integral part of the startup ecosystem that it may never be the same again.
Crypto firm Circle reveals $3.3 billion exposure to Silicon Valley Bank from CNBC – Circle announced late Friday that it has $3.3 billion out of its $40 billion of reserves at Silicon Valley Bank. USDC promptly lost its $1 peg and still has not recovered as of this writing.
SVB’s Auction Block Includes VC-Focused Lender, Wealth Unit from Bloomberg – The search for buyers is on this weekend with many major banks looking at Silicon Valley Bank’s assets.
Crypto-focused bank Silvergate is shutting operations and liquidating after market meltdown from CNBC – Remember Silvergate? This was the biggest story of the week when they announced they would be shutting down their operations. While it feels like three weeks ago, that was actually Wednesday when we found out that news.
SoFi Bank sues to block Biden’s student loan payment pause from AP News – SoFi has asked a federal judge to overturn the Biden administration’s latest student loan extension arguing that is unlawful.
Credit Karma wants millions of Americans to know their net worth from TechCrunch – On to some actual fintech innovation, Credit Karma announced this week a new product called Net Worth that will provide its users more visibility into their total financial picture.
Amazon To Reportedly Launch NFT Marketplace Next Month from The Defiant – Amazon is going to launch a NFT marketplace next month but it is being built to compete with the likes of Open Sea or Rarible. The platform won’t support crypto assets and will only accept credit or debit cards for payment. There will be 15 NFT collections for sale upon launch.
Note: We have created a breaking news page for the Silicon Valley Bank news and will be updating it as developments happen over the weekend and into next week.