A bank that has financed some of the biggest names in the tech world has run out of money. Silicon Valley Bank is the largest to fail since the 2008 financial crisis.

A California regulator shut down its operations on Friday and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to oversee deposits of over 170 billion dollars.

The bank was set up in 1983 with startups as its main customers. The founders of those companies, and others, are scrambling for more information and trying to find out what options they may have.

Dean Nelson, CEO of Cato Digital, said, "We have to make sure that both our employees, our customers and our investors, you know, we're protecting the things that we have."

The bank had, at the end of December, about 209 billion dollars in assets. However, its current balance sheet is unclear.

Policymakers at the Federal Reserve have been trying to tame runaway inflation by hiking interest rates. But that has caused funding for tech firms to dry up and has put pressure on the bank's clients, who started withdrawing their money.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with Fed officials and banking regulators on Friday and expressed "full confidence" in their ability to respond. She said the US banking system "remains resilient."