HelloTradea new blockchain-based trading platform founded by former BlackRock crypto execs Wyatt Raich and Kevin Tang announced that it has closed a $4.6 million seed round led by Dragonfly Capital. The cycle was completed in less than a week, reflecting a strong belief in the scale of the market opportunity and the team’s track record of creating category-defining products. At BlackRock, Kevin and Wyatt launched the company’s spot Bitcoin ETF, the fastest ETF in history to reach $100 billion in assets.
For decades, access to global capital markets and leveraged equity trading has been limited by geography, high capital requirements, complex derivatives and legacy brokerage systems. These obstacles have made it difficult for retail and professional investors to obtain directional exposure and leverage in global stocks.
HelloTrade aims to change that. Built on MegaETH, the platform will allow users around the world to gain leveraged exposure to stocks, ETFs, commodities and cryptocurrencies. The app is designed for everyday investors with a mobile-first experience, removing the usual friction points of trading cryptocurrencies. There’s no wallet setup, no gas payments, and no technical jargon. Users simply open the app and trade at the speed of a traditional brokerage platform, thanks to MegaETH’s ability to process over one hundred thousand transactions per second.
“Leveraged stock trading should not be limited by geography or account minimums,” said co-founder Kevin Tang. “We have now seen how crypto derivatives have transformed access to digital assets. HelloTrade applies the same philosophy to traditional stocks, allowing investors around the world to participate in the world’s most dynamic markets.”
The company is supported by a strong group of advisors, including Arthur Hayes (Maelstrom), Josh Lim (FalconX), David C. (LeadBlock Partners & LeadBlock Bitpanda Ventures), Larry Florio (Ethena) and Andrew Saunders (Amazon).
“While leading the engineering team at BlackRock’s Digital Assets Lab, I had the privilege of building IBIT, ETHA, and BUIDL, some of the largest crypto-asset products in the world. This experience highlighted a tremendous opportunity to bring the same trust, discipline, and institutional standards that we championed at BlackRock to the rest of the world and build something truly transformative with HelloTrade,” said co-founder Wyatt Raich, and former head of engineering. digital assets at BlackRock.
About HelloTrade
Kevin and Wyatt first crossed paths at BlackRock as founding team members in the company’s digital assets division. Despite their different backgrounds – Kevin as a financial services veteran with over 12 years of experience and Wyatt from a career in AI and robotics at Lockheed Martin – both shared the belief that blockchain technology could transform capital markets and investing. HelloTrade is expected to launch as a mobile app on iOS and Android. For early access, a waiting list is currently online at hello.commerce.
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