Katie Haun,  the formidable former federal prosecutor turned Andreessen Horowitz crypto zealot, just raised a $1.5 billion fund to invest in early stage crypto and Web3 startups—a massive bet on a still-unproven sector (at least by most people’s standards). Web3 may be beloved by venture capitalists but it remains largely untested by consumers and regulators. But Haun’s investing and fundraising success is enough to make some crypto skeptics reconsider their opposition to the phenomenon or at least to test their theses once more. Many people are wondering whether the new games, NFTs, marketplaces and other platforms built on blockchain technology and digital tokens will become the eventual successors to the likes of Facebook and Google. Others wonder whether the narrative surrounding Web3 has shifted from optimistic to overhyped.

For what it’s worth, I’ve gotten to know Katie decently well over the past six months or so. She is whip smart, has an unbelievable resume—Stanford Law School, Supreme Court clerk, imposing federal prosecutor—and has made the unlikely leap from the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Northern District of California to Sand Hill Road, focused on crypto, first at a16z and now at her own, $1.5 billion venture-capital fund, Haun Ventures. I would not bet against Katie Haun. Her track record at a16z, including investing in Open Sea and Coinbase, could well make her one of the most successful early seed-capital investors in recent memory, which helps explain why the “smart money” has flocked to Haun Ventures.