Katie Haun believes now is an effective time to spend money on crypto

Almost two years in the past, Katie Haun left Andreessen Horowitz and raised two crypto funds totaling $1.5 billion. After which… a crypto market disaster occurred. At starcrypto Disrupt, she regarded again at what occurred over the previous couple of years and confirmed that she’s nonetheless very optimistic about the way forward for crypto.

When Katie Haun was a basic companion at a16z, bitcoin was buying and selling at $65,000, Sam Bankman-Fried was nonetheless on the helm of FTX. And Haun agrees that issues these issues set the area again significantly. But it surely’s not a foul time to be a crypto investor.

“I believe there’s a notion on the market that crypto is crickets chirping. We discover ourselves very busy, however one of many issues we did do is we noticed this market correction, and we very purposely waited to make some deployments,” Katie Haun stated. “So I do know that is going to sound slightly odd, however we really feel truly it’s a very good time to be investing within the area throughout this time.”

In accordance with her, there are a number of misconceptions about Haun Ventures. “I believe one other misperception is ‘oh, wow, you raised it throughout a excessive market, nice timing, peak.’ Really, that was not the case,” Haun stated. “It was not a stroll within the park. Primary, crypto market cap had dropped 40% from its peak.”

“The opposite factor is notion of our fund is we’re one big, huge $1.5 billion fund, and we’re not. We have now two funds. We have now an early stage fund, $500 million. We do A, B and C. After which now we have an acceleration fund, which backs every kind of later stage tasks in crypto.”

In relation to the bigger fund, Haun Ventures lately closed two offers with out asserting them in two “iconic manufacturers” in crypto which are rising quickly. Haun didn’t identify these corporations.

With out giving any arduous numbers, Haun stated that her agency hasn’t deployed half of the bigger fund. “Of our earlier stage fund, it’s significantly lower than that,” she stated.

She has no remorse elevating $1.5 billion throughout her two funds. She thinks it’s the suitable measurement and she or he believes Haun Ventures will stay dedicated to this kind of fund measurement in the long term.

“And by the best way, I’m sitting right here publicly stating this on the report in a stage setting, even when the market is in a large crypto bull run, we don’t intend to extend our measurement. We predict we’ve picked our measurement and our technique for a motive,” Haun stated.

SEC would possibly want to return again to Earth

When speaking in regards to the SEC and present regulatory issues about cryptocurrencies, Katie Haun expressed some sturdy opinions about a few of the choices which have been made by the company.

“The legislation and the laws are determined on this nation by courts and by Congress. They’re not determined by unbiased companies. So simply because an company says one thing doesn’t actually make it the legislation. And I believe lots of people don’t understand that. And so we’ve seen companies, sure branches of presidency — by the best way, throughout totally different administrations too — get very, very concerned,” Haun stated.

Specifically, she criticized the present management. “I believe the SEC below [Gary Gensler] has actually taken a really expansive view of their jurisdiction in a approach that I believe, by the best way, make no mistake, it’s not simply crypto, it’s on AI, it’s on local weather,” Haun stated.

“And I believe that’s a bit regarding, as a result of that’s not how our system is about up. And I believe that’s why you’ve began to see some federal judges beginning to say ‘wait a second, this can be a step too far,’” she added.

“I believe what’s happening now’s regulators must show that they’re the powerful cop on the beat. They usually’re going after no matter they will, even when they may not in the end prevail.”

The tip of FTX

As a former federal prosecutor, Katie Haun additionally had ideas about Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX on the whole. She did meet him a few occasions at conferences.

“I used to be on workforce Coinbase and the viewers was by and enormous numerous FTX supporters. The one different time — I believe I met him two or thrice — the one different time I shared a stage with him was behind closed doorways, so I gained’t say an excessive amount of about it. However I can inform you additionally, I used to be speaking about authorities and there have been some awkward moments the place he was saying, oh, I used to be not registering,” she stated.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 21: (L-R) starcrypto Normal Supervisor & Editor-In-Chief Connie Loizos and Haun Ventures Founder & CEO Katie Haun converse onstage throughout starcrypto Disrupt 2023 at Moscone Heart on September 21, 2023 in San Francisco, California. (Picture by Kimberly White/Getty Pictures for starcrypto)