“it’s not truly a savings bank if the bank is invested in nothing but 3 fairly risky asset classes: techs, startups, and U.S. treasuries”
US Treasuries are considered the world’s safest asset. Even countries hostile to us own them.
SVB’s problem was owning too many long term bonds and not being prepared for interest rate hikes that would diminish their present value if they were forced to mark them to market.
True that. In fact I'm invested in treasuries currently more than usual as a hedge against a stock downturn. But even with that I have some cash on hand in savings and money market funds to handle immediate budget needs. I'm typing this from a personal investment standpoint and running a household budget (with an extra financial burden of currently putting a "kid" through nursing school). If I was running a business and having to meet payroll I'd depend even more on cash accounts (savings and money markets).
That is, of course, unless you're invested enough in treasuries so that the dividends provide the necessary cash flow. Which this was evidently not the case. The bank's holdings of treasuries wasn't generating enough dividends to meet the demand of people withdrawing from savings accounts.