Venture capitalist Katie Haun is optimistic about the future of crypto. “It’s a really good time to be investing in this space during this down market,” she said. “I have actually never felt that in prior cycles, crypto was more inevitable than in this cycle, and this is the fourth cycle I’ve been in crypto,” she further shared.
Katie Haun on Crypto’s Future and SEC Regulations
Venture capitalist Katie Haun, founder and CEO of Haun Ventures, a $1.5 billion Web3-focused venture capital fund, shared her optimism about the future of crypto at Techcrunch Disrupt on Thursday.
Haun was previously a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm. She also served on the Coinbase board. Before becoming a venture capitalist, she spent a decade as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Commenting on her venture capital funds’ crypto investment strategy, she described: “I think there’s a perception out there that crypto is crickets chirping. We find ourselves very busy, but one of the things we did do is we saw this market correction, and we very purposely waited to make some deployments.” Haun emphasized:
I know this is going to sound a little odd, but we feel, actually, it’s a really good time to be investing in this space during this down market.
She proceeded to highlight some positive regulatory developments in the crypto space, including recent court cases that pushed back against the SEC. In addition, she noted that Congress is getting involved, the world’s largest asset managers are entering the space, the stablecoin market has hugely grown, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued crypto tax guidance. The VC stressed:
I have actually never felt that in prior cycles, crypto was more inevitable than in this cycle, and this is the fourth cycle I’ve been in crypto.
Regarding crypto regulations, she stated that “the picture’s brighter on what’s happening globally.” Haun added: “You have a majority of G20 countries now moving forward with crypto frameworks … I think that right now they are moving forward because they realize the inevitability of cryptography paired with economic incentives.”
Haun specifically criticized SEC Chairman Gary Gensler for his enforcement-centric approach to regulating the crypto sector. “I think the SEC under [Gary Gensler] has really taken a very expansive view of their jurisdiction in a way that I think, by the way, make no mistake, it’s not just crypto, it’s on AI, it’s on climate, it’s on other major policy questions that concern the U.S. economy,” she cautioned, elaborating:
I think that’s a bit concerning because that’s not how our system is set up … And I think that’s why you’ve started to see some federal judges … starting to say ‘wait a second, this is a step too far.’
Despite regulatory uncertainty and crackdowns by certain regulators, such as the SEC, Haun said her VC firm is not deterred from investing in U.S. companies. “The law and the regulations are decided in this country by the courts and by Congress. They’re not decided by independent agencies,” she stressed. “So just because an agency says something doesn’t really make it the law. And I think a lot of folks don’t realize that. And so, we’ve seen agencies and we’ve seen certain [branches] of government — and by the way different administrations too, this is bipartisan — get very, very involved.”
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