Former Employee Accuses Former Employer, Found Dead in the Desert That Night: The Mysterious Death of a Former Hack VC Partner

Original | Odaily (@OdailyChina)

Author | Wenser (@wenser 2010)

On August 24 of this year, the body of a 37-year-old woman was found near the Fields Road exit ramp on the southbound side of Interstate 15 in the Mojave Desert, California. California police subsequently confirmed the deceased as Hsin-Ju Chuang, a former partner at Hack VC.

What is shocking is that on that very day, she had just published a lengthy post taking direct aim at Hack VC co-founder Alexander Pack and partner Dmitry Bulaevsky. Hsin-Ju Chuang claimed that while she was experiencing a health crisis, the two threatened her with an "industry blacklist" to continue working and not resign, causing her such anguish that she attempted suicide at one point. She also alleged that Hack VC subsequently retaliated through health insurance measures and spread rumors to smear her.

A death on a desert highway has entangled a well-known venture capital firm with nearly $700 million in assets under management in an employment dispute scandal with a former partner. As of press time, investigators have still not reached a definitive conclusion regarding the cause of Hsin-Ju Chuang's death.

Once a Star Partner in the Industry, Now Found Dead on a Desert Highway

Many may not be familiar with Hsin-Ju Chuang's professional identity as a "former partner at Hack VC," but her previous track record in the crypto space was quite impressive—calling her a "star partner in the industry" would not be an exaggeration.

Who Is Hsin-Ju Chuang: 9 Years in the Industry, Stints at Stellar and Solana, Organized 17 Ethereum Conference Events

According to a lengthy post she published in May 2025 when she joined Hack VC as a partner, as early as 2017, she joined Stellar as Head of Growth through a fortuitous opportunity—the project was co-founded by Mt. Gox founder Jed McCaleb and Lightyear co-founder Brit, focusing on cross-border payments, asset tokenization, DeFi, and real-world financial applications.

In 2018, during Solana's early startup phase, she again connected with Solana co-founders toly, raj, and others through introductions from Race Capital partner Chris McCann and joined this star project as Head of Growth. At that time, the Solana team had fewer than 10 people, and the project was still at the whitepaper stage, having just received investment from 500 Global VC. Ultimately, Hsin-Ju Chuang stayed until just before the Solana testnet launched and left before the incentive unlock.

After that, she also spent a brief period at Tezos and later founded her own startup, Dystopia Labs, focusing on developer ecosystem building and event organization; in addition, in 2024, she participated in the development of Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) infrastructure project Fhenix, and since 2019 had organized a cumulative total of 17 Ethereum ecosystem-related conferences and events around the world.

But no one could have imagined that this onboarding statement—"recounting the journey of the past and opening a new chapter for the future"—would mark the beginning of a brutal and dark "journey as a worker."

Joining Hack VC Was the Beginning of a Nightmare: Part-Time Since 2021, Full-Time for 7 Months, Rewarded with an "Industry Blacklist" Threat from Firm Partners

After joining Hack VC full-time, Hsin-Ju Chuang began her diligent "worker" journey, and reality soon told her that this was not an easy task. Compared to the glamorous "crypto VC partner" title that outsiders saw, Hsin-Ju Chuang's actual work content appeared suffocating.

According to the exposé post, during last year's KBW conference, despite facing serious health problems, Hack VC co-founder Alexander Pack and partner Dmitry Bulaevsky still demanded that she push forward the hack summit event and KBW conference side events, threatening her with "if you dare resign, we'll issue an industry blacklist."

At that time, she worked 13-14 hours a day, 6 days a week, and could sleep at most 4 hours per night; in addition, she was diagnosed with diffuse toxic goiter, hyperthyroidism, and severe insomnia. The seemingly well-paid crypto VC partner was in reality a "hard-luck worker" burning through life and health to push work forward.

Subsequently, Hsin-Ju Chuang repeatedly requested to resign, but Hack VC refused multiple times, and the threats and intimidation against her continued for nearly a month alongside events like KBW. In the later stages of the events, her personal health deteriorated; tormented by illness, Hsin-Ju Chuang even attempted suicide.

Worse still, even after the ultimately failed suicide attempt and subsequently notifying Hack VC's decision-makers in written form that she "had no intention to sue, only wanted to resign" (Odaily note: her original words essentially meant "as long as Hack VC does not retaliate or smear me afterward, I have no intention to sue."), the matter was clearly not going to be resolved so simply.

As a well-known VC with nearly $700 million in assets under management, Hack VC's people were clearly not pushovers. Of course, they were not foolish enough to retaliate openly or publicly announce a blacklist. Just one month after Hsin-Ju Chuang's failed suicide attempt, Hack VC demonstrated its vengeful attitude by being perfunctory about the COBRA health insurance issue. (Odaily note: This insurance allows U.S. employees to continue using their former employer's group health insurance plan when they lose employer-provided group health insurance due to resignation, reduced work hours, or other specific reasons, but typically requires paying the full premium themselves.)

Due to Hack VC's stonewalling, the insurance issue remained unresolved for nearly 4 months, and Hsin-Ju Chuang had no choice but to hire a lawyer to force them to comply with the law and fix the COBRA insurance problem. But during the legal negotiations, tempted by carried interest bonuses and clawback provisions and other potentially huge benefits, Hack VC still used lawyers and other employees/partners to spread rumors and smear her.

It is worth noting that Hsin-Ju Chuang's compensation at Hack VC was not poor. Since 2021, she had been working part-time at Hack VC, achieving a salary increase from $50,000 to $300,000, receiving a $30,000 bonus, and a promise of additional carried interest bonuses (originally planned to be realized about a week after her departure). In addition, she was promised the possibility of joining the GP management ranks, but due to her health issues, no definitive word was ultimately given.

Reading through the entire exposé post, Hsin-Ju Chuang's despair is almost overflowing. Perhaps this is also why, nearly a year after the suicide incident, when both parties' lawyers were already preparing to enter private mediation and settlement, she ultimately chose to reject a settlement with a confidentiality clause, dismissed her lawyers, and planned to release case-related evidence on (or before) August 26. When she published the exposé post on August 24, she even included 2 wallet addresses for donation requests.

Unfortunately, the last update to this exposé post was at 1 AM on August 24. That same evening, she had already perished on a desert highway in California, passing away tragically.

Hsin-Ju Chuang's Cause of Death Remains a Mystery: Autopsy Results Pending—Suicide to Prove a Point, or Contract Killing?

On September 6, news website Hoodline published an article titled "37-Year-Old Las Vegas Woman Found Dead Near I-15 Off-Ramp in Mojave Desert." The deceased in the incident was none other than Hack VC former partner Hsin-Ju Chuang, who had planned to reveal evidence.

The case is currently being investigated by the California Highway Patrol Barstow Office. According to meteorological data reviewed by media, on the day Hsin-Ju Chuang's body was found, temperatures in the Mojave Desert reached approximately 42 degrees Celsius, with nighttime temperatures remaining around 27 degrees Celsius. It is currently unclear whether high temperatures, sudden illness, mechanical failure, or other causes led to her death.

Furthermore, despite several weeks having passed, there is still no specific information on the autopsy results. The San Bernardino County Coroner's Office stated that death investigations requiring toxicology and histology testing take an average of six months to a year to complete.

Regarding the scene, according to the California Highway Patrol, the CHP Barstow Office patrols Interstate 15, covering a 130-mile stretch from Apple Valley to the Nevada state line, making it the second-largest patrol area in California. The area is vast and sparsely populated, and cases occurring in remote areas along the route typically take some time before becoming known to the public.

Based on the available information, there is no evidence yet to indicate whether this case is a suicide or a homicide. But the coincidental timing, the peculiar desert highway, combined with the previous Hack VC "workplace scandal," have cast a mysterious and bloody shroud over this case.

It is worth noting that as one of the well-known VC firms in the industry, Hack VC's portfolio includes no shortage of star-level projects, such as EigenLayer, Goldfinch, Mysten Labs (Sui), io.net, Elixir, Berachain, Stable, and others.

And this bizarre incident—"former partner found dead on a remote desert highway before publicly revealing evidence"—has undoubtedly added countless suspicions and scrutiny to this VC firm. As for how Hack VC co-founder Alexander Pack and partner Dmitry Bulaevsky, who have been thrust into the spotlight, will respond afterward, whether they will respond at all, or whether they will face police investigation, we currently do not know.

As of the time of writing, Hack VC's official account has not yet responded directly to this matter, and Odaily will continue to track the latest developments.