Yoon Hyejun, now Plasma’s institutional lead, first stepped into the crypto scene after attending ETHDenver in 2022 while at McKinsey Korea. Her exposure grew from researching blockchain papers at McKinsey to deciding to attend the conference to learn more about crypto, drawn by the conference’s energy. The experience convinced her to pivot from consulting to blockchain, even canceling a flight home to Korea to pursue opportunities in New York.
She joined Yzi Labs (formerly Binance Labs) as an associate for 1 year and 3 months, moving from the M&A team to the token-investment unit. That period coincided with the FTX collapse and a wave of new projects, offering her a compressed, rapid education in the crypto industry. She noted that institutional investors began taking blockchain seriously, fueling her desire to work at a sovereign wealth fund focused on the space.
Her move from Yzi Labs to Temasek in Singapore in 2023 followed this track. Temasek, a state-owned investment company, also engages in direct company-building beyond funding. One project Temasek helped build was Partyior, a Singapore-based blockchain payments firm co-founded with JPMorgan and Standard Chartered. Her switch to Plasma in 2024 was influenced by Partyior; Plasma is a layer-1 blockchain focused on stablecoins, and the firm maintains an office in London where she relocated last year.
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