This is the prisoner's dilemma, though. Unless there is sufficient, government-esque coordination across VCs (and founders, etc) to force everyone to remain calm, no individual can rely on the others remaining calm, and they are all in a position to individually lose if they remain calm while others do not.
If anything I think it would be extremely spooky if that level of coordination did exist across VCs. The lack of strong coordination this has demonstrated is almost heart warming, in a way (if you like free markets).
I think the point is that a precipitous pull of deposits actually diminishes ability to maximize the underlying asset disposition required to cover the whole of deposits.
You are correct that there is a bit of prisoner's dilemma here. I'm sure Thiel's portfolio companies that successful transferred funds had an awesome maybe even productive weekend while the rest had to scramble to figure out what this all means for them.
I think there's also tragedy of the commons at play here and this is where some level of orchestration would have been beneficial to optimize the common good or at least prevent unnecessary depreciation for the overall ecosystem.
This is the prisoner's dilemma, though. Unless there is sufficient, government-esque coordination across VCs (and founders, etc) to force everyone to remain calm, no individual can rely on the others remaining calm, and they are all in a position to individually lose if they remain calm while others do not.
If anything I think it would be extremely spooky if that level of coordination did exist across VCs. The lack of strong coordination this has demonstrated is almost heart warming, in a way (if you like free markets).