It’s technically true (“insured via”) but customers get into a false sense of security. We don’t know how they manage the money in their partner banks behind the scenes. If they operate like Yotta (in the linked article) did, then good luck getting your money back if Wealthfront suddenly closes. And the worst part is you can’t claim insurance with Wealthfront because they aren’t actually insured (the partner banks are) and they don’t actually have any of your money.

Of course I’m not claiming Wealthfront has the same setup. But I’d rather just deal directly with an FDIC-insured bank than have that uncertainty. Besides, Wealthfront’s rates aren’t any better than other banks right now anyway.