Meet Kathryn Haun, the cybersecurity cop turned crypto millionaire who hired The Office’s Mindy Kaling and won praise from Serena Williams for her new US$1.5 billion fund, Haun Ventures
- She left California venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz last year to start her own US$1.5 billion cryptocurrency fund, Haun Ventures, and has taught at Stanford Law School
- The former federal prosecutor is now worth US$80 million and has Hollywood connections including Gwyneth Paltrow and The Office’s Mindy Kaling, whom she’s hired
Enjoying her own ride at the moment is Kathryn “Katie” Haun, a former federal prosecutor turned top crypto investor. Here are five things to know about the venture capitalist and rising star.
1. She used to work as a federal prosecutor in cybersecurity
Haun started out as a clerk for US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy in the early 2000s. According to CNBC, she moved on to become a federal prosecutor tasked to investigate prison gangs and the mafia, corrupt officials and bitcoin.
Then Haun’s boss tasked her with looking into something different and she got a break from the gruesome cases she was handling before. Back then, bitcoin was relatively new and her employer wanted to look into the idea of shutting it down.
From there, things took a sharp turn when Haun became an in-house expert and solved cases by following what she called the trail of “digital breadcrumbs” of cryptocurrency.
2. She taught classes in cryptocurrency at Stanford Law School
Haun became extremely knowledgeable about digital currencies so she started hosting meetings and seminars with various government agencies, such as the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service, among others.
