Hack VC Deletes Statement After Ex-Partner Hsin-Ju Chuang, 37, Found Dead
Three outlets confirm Chuang's death at 37 near an Aug. 24 dispute with Hack VC; cause of death remains undisclosed by authorities.
Hsin-Ju Chuang, a former partner at crypto venture firm Hack VC, died at age 37, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner. California Highway Patrol officers responded to southbound Interstate 15 south of Field Road on Aug. 24, where she was pronounced dead at the scene. The age, date and location are confirmed independently by Cointelegraph, CoinDesk and Protos.
What none of the three has been able to confirm is a cause of death. Cointelegraph said it contacted the California Highway Patrol for additional detail but had received no response by the time of publication. That gap is worth flagging on its own: the underlying event, a death investigated by a coroner, is real and dated, but the circumstances beyond location and timing sit with the authorities, not with any outlet’s reporting.
A career that moved through Stellar, Solana and Hack VC
According to her LinkedIn profile, cited by Cointelegraph, Chuang served as head of growth at both Stellar and Solana before founding Dystopia Labs. She joined Hack VC as a venture partner in 2021, then moved up to partner and head of platform in 2025.
That timeline places her inside one of crypto’s more established venture shops for roughly five years, a detail that matters because it frames the dispute that followed. This was not an outside critic. It was someone who had held a senior internal role at the firm she later accused.
The Aug. 23-24 allegations, and what came before the death
Protos reports that Chuang went public on Aug. 23 and 24 with accusations against Hack VC covering medical emergencies, the conduct of co-founder Alexander Pack and Daniel Bulaevsky, and pressure to work overtime while dealing with serious medical symptoms. She also alleged the firm stalled her health insurance continuation. The dispute had already moved into private mediation before it spilled onto social media.
Cointelegraph adds that Chuang had said, before her death, that she intended to release evidence supporting her claims. That evidence has not surfaced publicly, and it is unclear whether it exists in a form that can now be independently reviewed.
A statement posted, then deleted
Protos is the only one of the three outlets to detail a specific sequence on Hack VC’s official X account. The firm initially posted a statement disputing Chuang’s version of events: “While our understanding of events differs materially, we do not wish to discuss the details publicly at this time out of respect for their privacy.” That post was later deleted.
Hack VC told Protos it removed the statement “after seeing the tone the public conversation was taking,” adding that some responses toward Chuang “had become increasingly hostile” and the firm did not want its post to add to that attention. As of Protos’s report, the firm’s official account carried no direct mention of her passing.
In place of the corporate statement, co-founder and managing partner Alexander Pack posted a personal condolence on Wednesday, Sept. 23, the same day the death became public news. All three outlets quote the same core line from that post: “We have not spoken to her directly for over 10 months and we are not aware of the circumstances surrounding her death.” Pack, who Chuang had named directly in her allegations, also asked that people “be respectful of those who are grieving.”
What is confirmed and what is not
Confirmed by all three sources: Chuang’s age, the Aug. 24 date and Interstate 15 location, her prior roles at Stellar and Solana, her Hack VC titles and dates, and Pack’s condolence statement including the 10-month figure. Confirmed by two of three: the public dispute over workplace conduct and mediation. Sourced to Protos alone, via a direct statement from Hack VC: the deletion of the firm’s original post and its stated reason for pulling it.
No cause of death has been disclosed by the San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner’s office in any of the three reports. The mediation between Chuang and Hack VC over her health insurance and workplace complaints had not been reported as resolved before her death.
Hack VC’s platform team, which Chuang led as of 2025, has not announced a successor in any of the three reports.
Sources
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