There are literally stickers on the doors of every bank explaining that depositing money beyond $250,000 incurs risk.
These naive smol bean founders don’t struggle to figure out the most tax advantageous way to get paid, let’s not pretend they’re too stupid to read a huge sticker.
The VCs who advised them to behave this way, if you ask me. In my ideal resolution, the government does their own valuation of the startups, rescues in excess of insurance the ones that seem promising, and proportionally takes the VC equity in these companies that got special rescue consideration. If the investment is getting bailed out, the VCs who started this mess shouldn’t get their equity returns. They can invest again in the next round if they really believe their convictions.
Practically, the VCs should have made some bridge loans to solve the short term problems while we wait to see what comes out of receivership. Some did, and good on them for sticking with it in the hard times.
All investments have risk. This is one of the risks associated with meager yields - very rare but possible wipe out. If depositors were always guaranteed then what would prevent high-risk banks that promise huge yields but ultimately just rely on govt backstopping when they go under. Who pays the cost in that case? Even 'guaranteed' investments like cash or treasuries are not guaranteed, there are failure modes.
