The Next Banking Crisis Is A Failure Away

May 23, 2025 • 58 second read

Bond yields are soaring, with the benchmark 30-year U.S. Treasury bond hitting 5.15% this week.

With yields rising, bond holders are sitting on substantial losses. Perhaps the worst of those losses are in the banking sector.

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In total, U.S. banks are sitting on over $480 billion in unrealized losses.

Remember, it took a much smaller crack in the bond market to lead to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the second-largest bank failure in U.S history.

As we noted in Grey Swan Live! yesterday, unrealized bond losses may have to be realized at an inopportune time. The Federal Reserve was able to paper over those losses last time quickly, but events could quickly run out of control.

~ Addison

P.S. We’ve released new research on today’s markets, and how President Trump is following through on a Great Reset of the U.S. economy. This first phase isn’t pretty – we call it the Great Fire. But it could still mean some big investment opportunities now. Click here for more details.

As always, your reader feedback is welcome: feedback@greyswanfraternity.com (We read all emails. Thanks in advance for your contribution.)

Ripple Effect

The Next Banking Crisis Is A Failure Away

Addison Wiggin

May 23, 2025 • 58 second read

banking system Banks

Bond yields are soaring, with the benchmark 30-year U.S. Treasury bond hitting 5.15% this week.

With yields rising, bond holders are sitting on substantial losses. Perhaps the worst of those losses are in the banking sector.

Turn Your Images On

In total, U.S. banks are sitting on over $480 billion in unrealized losses.

Remember, it took a much smaller crack in the bond market to lead to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the second-largest bank failure in U.S history.

~ Addison

As always, your reader feedback is welcome: feedback@greyswanfraternity.com (We read all emails. Thanks in advance for your contribution.)

The Hollow Class, Part II

November 12, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

As interest rates fell, investors swarmed into real estate, lured by yields and the illusion that home prices never fell. Wall Street’s private-label securitizers were soon packaging everything from pristine mortgages to what were effectively loans scribbled on napkins, thus turning them into bonds that glowed like gold — until you looked too closely.

For their part, the regulators and ratings agencies conveniently looked away and allowed the bubble to grow. Fannie Mae watched the frenzy from the sidelines at first.

The company’s mandate — written in law — was not to chase profits but to promote affordable housing. That is to say, to make sure that teachers, nurses, and other first-time buyers could own their own homes and unlock the American Dream.

But as Wall Street flooded the market with high-risk mortgage products, political pressure mounted. Congress demanded that Fannie “do its part” for low and moderate-income families.

The Debt of Intelligence

November 12, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

SoftBank offloaded its entire $5.83 billion Nvidia stake to bankroll an even bigger gamble: tens of billions in OpenAI.

Son insists this is his next Vision Fund moment.

OpenAI’s swelling valuation doubled SoftBank’s profit last quarter. He may have sold the pickaxe factory, but he’s betting the mine still goes deeper.

Consumers Got the Memo

November 12, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

Although consumer debt is at an all-time high, consumers themselves got the message during the last crisis: Pay down debt, own more assets.

That’s taken the U.S. household debt-to-asset ratio to levels last seen in the 1970s, around the time the U.S. went off the gold standard.

Dan Denning: The Hollow Class, Part I

November 11, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

A 50-year mortgage doesn’t make housing cheaper. But by stretching the repayment period over time, it DOES lower the monthly payment on your principal. That lowers the percentage of your total income you’re spending on repayment. And in a strange way, it makes sense.

With a fixed rate mortgage and inflation running in the high upper digits, the real value you of your total debt goes down over time (inflation pays off your loan, as long as your income rises faster in nominal terms). Of course you pay off a lot more interest over 50 years than 30 years. And it takes a lot longer to build up equity (assuming also that house prices don’t fall).

The Hollow Class, Part II

November 12, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

For their part, the regulators and ratings agencies conveniently looked away and allowed the bubble to grow. Fannie Mae watched the frenzy from the sidelines at first.

But as Wall Street flooded the market with high-risk mortgage products, political pressure mounted. Congress demanded that Fannie “do its part” for low and moderate-income families.

The Debt of Intelligence

November 12, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

SoftBank offloaded its entire $5.83 billion Nvidia stake to bankroll an even bigger gamble: tens of billions in OpenAI.

Son insists this is his next Vision Fund moment.

OpenAI’s swelling valuation doubled SoftBank’s profit last quarter. He may have sold the pickaxe factory, but he’s betting the mine still goes deeper.

Consumers Got the Memo

November 12, 2025 • Addison Wiggin

Although consumer debt is at an all-time high, consumers themselves got the message during the last crisis: Pay down debt, own more assets.

That’s taken the U.S. household debt-to-asset ratio to levels last seen in the 1970s, around the time the U.S. went off the gold standard.

Dan Denning: The Hollow Class, Part I

November 11, 2025 • Addison Wiggin