Kathryn Haun, a general partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and former federal prosecutor at the US Justice Department (DOJ), will reportedly be managing the Silicon Valley company’s recent $15 million investment (6% ownership stake) in MakerDAO – a stablecoin project developed and deployed via the Ethereum blockchain.
Giving “Power Back To The People”
With its multi-million dollar investment, Andreessen Horowitz’s cryptocurrency fund (a16z) has directly acquired a large amount of Maker Coin (MKR), which is a cryptocurrency issued by the MakerDAO project.
Owning MKR coins reportedly allows investors to play a role in the decision making process related to MakerDAO’s ongoing development. Commenting on the “powerfulness” of cryptocurrencies in her recently released profile on Fortune, Haun said:
Cryptocurrency is powerful because it puts the power back into the hands of the user … [and] transcends all boundaries.
Having a strong legal background, the Stanford University law school graduate (JD) noted that Andreessen Horowitz “likes to encourage responsible innovation.” Going on to reflect on her previous work as the DOJ’s assistant US attorney and digital currency coordinator, Haun clarified that the the department’s crypto task force not only cracks down on crypto-related crimes, but it also aims to understand the potential benefits of cryptocurrencies.
According to Haun, digital currencies could “transform” the existing financial system as they may allow the currently over 2 billion people throughout the world, who do not have access to modern banking services, to participate in the global economy.
“Adding Value” To The Crypto Ecosystem
The former counselor to the US Attorney General also thinks blockchain technology may allow many people to access better identity verification solutions. Explaining her role in the crypto ecosystem, Haun said:
There was a real need for ‘bridge building’ between the way regulators were thinking about this technology and the way some entrepreneurs were thinking about it, Those views were very different.
She added that her aim is to “add value” by helping to “bridge that gap” and to help out “strategically…with the roadmap” the new financial technology is planning. Haun emphasized that:
We don’t want regulation to outpace understanding … if you would have had a law about cryptocurrencies or blockchain past a year ago, it would have been completely outdated today.
After having worked on the board of directors at crypto exchange Coinbase, while also doing some personal investing in digital assets and advising blockchain startups, Haun decided to join Andreessen Horowitz because they “take a very long term view of cryptocurrency.”
Clarifying that a16z is not a crypto hedge fund, Haun noted that the company is an aggressive venture capital firm that has “a 7 to 10 year view [as] we are really in the ‘dial-up days’ of crypto.”
Scaling, Custody, Security
Important products the crypto industry currently needs are better security and custodial solutions, Haun noted. As most crypto industry participants have said, Haun thinks there’s a strong requirement for effective scaling solutions.
Addressing the fact the users are frustrated with cryptos “being too slow and not moving fast enough”, she remarked that:
this is true of a lot things that displaced the older models. Going back to the ‘horse and buggy days’, when the first car came out. People thought, ‘well it’s slower and why not just use the horse and buggy.
She added:
Roads needed to be built first. Highways needed to be built first. Services for users like gas stations need to come along first. Same is true in crypto.
