Former BlackRock Cryptocurrency Head Launches HelloTrade, Completes $4.6M Seed Round, Set to Unlock Global Frictionless Stock Trading on Megaeth

2025-11-20 22:19

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HelloTrade aims to provide a global user experience with the same speed as a Web2 terminal, while gaining exposure to stocks, ETFs, commodities, and cryptocurrency leverage.

Source: HelloTrade

HelloTrade, a new blockchain trading platform founded by former BlackRock cryptocurrency executive Wyatt Raich and Kevin Tang, has announced the completion of a $4.6 million seed round of financing, led by Dragonfly Capital.

This financing was driven with the assistance of Megaeth and was rapidly completed within a week, marking a significant attempt by Megaeth to bring Wall Street's traditional finance teams on board. The swift completion of the financing reflects the market's strong confidence in on-chain equities and a robust belief in the founding team's track record. During their time at BlackRock, Kevin and Wyatt launched the company's spot Bitcoin ETF, which became the fastest ETF to reach $100 billion in assets under management in history, with their involvement also behind the well-known IBIT, ETHA, and BUIDL.

For decades, entry into global capital markets and leveraged equity trading has been restricted by factors such as geography, high capital requirements, complex derivatives, and limitations of traditional brokerage systems. These barriers have made it difficult for retail and professional investors to obtain directional exposure and global equity leverage.

HelloTrade aims to change this situation. The platform is built on top of MegaETH, enabling global users to have the same speed experience as Web2 platforms while gaining exposure to stocks, ETFs, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. The application is designed for everyday investors, offering a mobile-first experience that eliminates common frictions in cryptocurrency trading. With no need for setting up wallets, paying gas fees, or dealing with technical terms, users can simply open the app and trade at the speed of a traditional brokerage platform, thanks to MegaETH's ability to process over 100,000 transactions per second.

"Trading stocks with leverage/without the constraints of geographic location or account restrictions," said Kevin Tang, co-founder of HelloTrade. "We have seen how crypto derivatives have changed the access to digital assets. HelloTrade applies the same concept to traditional stocks, allowing global investors to participate in the world's most active markets."

The company has received support from a strong advisory team: Arthur Hayes (Maelstrom), Josh Lim (FalconX), David C. (LeadBlock Partners & LeadBlock Bitpanda Ventures), Larry Florio (Ethena), and Andrew Saunders (Amazon).

「During my time leading the engineering team at BlackRock's Digital Asset Lab, I had the opportunity to build IBIT, ETHA, and BUIDL, some of the world's largest crypto asset products. This experience highlighted a significant opportunity to bring the same trust, discipline, and institutional standards we uphold at BlackRock to other parts of the world and collaborate with HelloTrade to build truly transformative solutions,」 co-founder Wyatt Raich said, who previously served as BlackRock's Head of Digital Asset Engineering.

Kevin Tang and Wyatt Raich originally crossed paths at BlackRock as founding members of the company's digital asset division. Despite their different backgrounds—Kevin being a seasoned professional in the financial services industry with over 12 years of experience, and Wyatt coming from the artificial intelligence and robotics technology field—the two shared a common vision in the digital asset space. Wyatt, with a professional background in artificial intelligence and robotics at Lockheed Martin, and both firmly believed in blockchain technology's potential to reshape the capital markets and investment landscape.

HelloTrade is expected to launch as a mobile application on iOS and Android platforms. For early access, interested individuals can now sign up for the waitlist on hello.trade.