Katie Haun’s Unconventional Journey From Federal Prosecutor to Crypto VC

In 2012, Katie Haun received an assignment that would unexpectedly reshape her career: investigate bitcoin. Then a federal prosecutor working for the U.S. Department of Justice in San Francisco, Haun approached the task with the methodical rigor she’d applied to cases involving prison gangs and organized crime. What she discovered would fundamentally change her perspective on cryptocurrency — and ultimately lead her down an unexpected path from government enforcer to pioneering crypto venture capitalist.

“The more I did some diligence and looked into it, I found that some of the myths I’d been hearing were just not true,” Haun recalled when defending crypto’s viability in a debate with economist Paul Krugman. “The more I worked in the space, I started to realize that this new technology was actually something that could really revolutionize the way we do things.”

That realization marked the beginning of a new career. Today, Haun stands at the helm of her own venture capital firm, having departed from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) in 2021 to launch a billion-dollar crypto fund. The transition from prosecutor to VC might seem improbable, but Haun says her unique background has proven to be an asset in navigating the complex intersection of cryptocurrency, regulation, and innovation.

“I didn’t choose the assignment,” Haun told Fortune when discussing her initial foray into cryptocurrency investigations. “However, I did choose to stay in the space.”

From the Courtroom to Crypto

During her decade-long tenure at the DOJ, Haun built a reputation for tackling complex cases involving cybercrime and corruption. She created the government’s first cryptocurrency task force and led high-profile investigations, including the probe into corrupt agents on the Silk Road task force and the Mt. Gox hack investigation.

The experience gave her an intimate understanding of both cryptocurrency’s potential for misuse and its inherent transparency.

“If you want to cover your tracks and you were a good criminal, bitcoin or cryptocurrency is one of the last things you should use,” Haun said. She pointed to successful prosecutions where her team traced bitcoin transactions directly to perpetrators, describing the blockchain as “digital breadcrumbs” that actually aided law enforcement.

This nuanced perspective caught the attention of Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, who were early believers in Web3 when many venture capitalists remained skeptical. They saw in Haun something rare: deep expertise in navigating the nascent regulatory environment surrounding cryptocurrency, combined with a prosecutor’s ability to evaluate risk and opportunity.

The venture firm’s bet on Haun paid off. Upon joining a16z in 2018 as its first female general partner, she co-led the firm’s crypto team alongside Chris Dixon, growing it from two people to approximately 50.

Of her time at a16z, Haun said, “One of the things I learned in the last four years at the firm is I’m actually an entrepreneur.” This self-discovery would ultimately lead her to take an even bigger leap.

A New Kind of Venture Firm

In December 2021, Haun announced her departure from a16z to launch her own venture firm. The move sent ripples through Silicon Valley — not just because of her prominence at a16z, but because of her ambitious target: a $1 billion fund focused exclusively on crypto investments.

Haun’s brought in advisers from the technology, entertainment, and government policy sectors, reflecting her belief that cryptocurrency’s impact will extend far beyond financial services.

“I think some of the best crypto founders are going to be found all over the globe,” Haun explained. “What I’ve learned is that, wow, there are so many more use cases than we imagined back then.”

She noted, “I’ll be the first to admit that the first generation of cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin and others, they’re slow, they’re clunky, they’re hard to understand, but that’s where things like stablecoins come into play and that’s where things like more energy efficient consensus mechanisms come into play.

“Now, in my new position as a venture capitalist, I see teams every week coming from engineering teams, coming from Google, or developer teams coming from Facebook, people coming from research universities all over the world.”

A New Chapter in Crypto Investment

The timing of Haun’s independent venture hasn’t been without challenges. The crypto market has experienced significant turbulence, with dramatic swings in asset values and increased regulatory scrutiny. However, the market is currently once again booming amid optimism of a favorable regulatory environment under the Donald Trump administration, and Haun’s background gives her a unique perspective on market volatility and regulatory challenges.

“The nature of running a crypto fund is taking on risk,” she noted, drawing parallels to her experience prosecuting complex cases where uncertainty was constant.

“That’s what I did for a living for over a decade. I made deals, I negotiated, I sat opposite someone on the other side of the table that I had to suss out quickly.”

Emilie Choi, the chief operating officer of Coinbase, described Haun’s effectiveness in characteristic terms: “She knows what to say that’s actually going to make the difference. And she’s relentless.”

Haun’s journey from prosecutor to venture capitalist is indicative of the maturing of the cryptocurrency industry itself. Her transition from investigating crypto crime to investing in crypto innovation mirrors the technology’s broader shift from the margins to the mainstream of finance and technology.

“We are in the dial-up days and the critics out there confuse the current state of innovation with the end state of the innovation,” she said. “Why would they assume the innovation would all stop right now?”