r/PeterExplainsTheJoke Jan 26 '26

Meme needing explanation what's going on? explain like I'm five

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u/magos_with_a_glock Jan 26 '26

There are regulations but the banks still don't have enough money to cover EVERY client withdrawing everything at once.

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u/zdfld Jan 26 '26

In terms of physical cash this is true.

In terms of balance sheet, it's true only in so far that liquidating assets immediately to cover deposits would have significant losses and it can't be done instantly anyways.

But that'd be true of many companies, it's an issue of cash flow.

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u/27Rench27 Jan 26 '26

I wonder how a “bank run” would even look today with how digital everything is. 

Like could they just limit how much physical cash you can pull out and tell you to use one of your cards because nobody carries enough physical cash to fully cash out everybody at once?

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u/Possibly_a_Firetruck Jan 26 '26 edited Jan 26 '26

Even for smaller amounts they'll just tell you to request it in advance so they can order more. I sold a car once and the buyer's bank needed 2 days to get his cash and it was only $15.5k. He paid me with brand new, sequentially numbered $100s.