From BlackRock to HelloTrade: Building an On-Chain US Stock Trading Ecosystem

The crypto market in 2025 is ushering in a new trend—deep integration of traditional finance and blockchain. Investors in emerging markets worldwide are facing pain points such as high transaction fees, cumbersome KYC processes, and product limitations, revealing a huge market gap. Against this backdrop, two “mainstream” professionals who previously worked at the world’s largest asset management firm, Kevin Tang and Wyatt Raich, founded HelloTrade, aiming to reconstruct traditional financial experiences using Web3’s underlying infrastructure.

Why Leave BlackRock to Build HelloTrade

Kevin spent over ten years at BlackRock, from research to innovative product teams, witnessing firsthand the pain points of traditional finance. After being introduced to bitcoin and ethereum in 2017, he quickly realized that blockchain technology could solve these long-standing issues. Ultimately, he joined BlackRock’s digital assets division as the third business department employee, helping to develop flagship products like IBIT and ETHA.

IBIT became the world’s largest bitcoin ETF, setting the record for the fastest to surpass $100 billion in assets under management. The success of this product proved one thing: investors are eager to invest in spot bitcoin through convenient and secure methods. However, even at the peak of BlackRock’s success, Kevin and Wyatt decided to establish HelloTrade in May 2025.

Their reason is straightforward—the next wave of blockchain mass adoption will involve bringing stocks, commodities, fixed income, and other traditional markets onto the chain. Currently, less than 1% of the global population trades on-chain, and the market is still in very early stages. To realize this vision quickly, infrastructure must be rebuilt from scratch, unbound by traditional financial frameworks.

Core Product: US Stock Perpetual Contracts and RWA

HelloTrade targets an overlooked market—24/7 US stock trading demand. Traditional US stock markets have after-hours and weekend gaps, yet investors worldwide, regardless of time zone, want to participate. This is where blockchain technology can shine.

In terms of product design, HelloTrade chose perpetual contracts as the entry point. Kevin believes that compared to options with complex pricing models and time decay, perpetual contracts are simpler, more intuitive, and more user-friendly for non-professional traders. They eliminate complexity and offer linear, easy-to-understand leverage tools.

But the product’s scope goes far beyond that. Kevin’s ambition is to create an application that millions of ordinary users will use daily—not just for trading, but also for reading news, setting price alerts, tracking FOMC meetings, and economic data. This requires a user experience comparable to Web2 apps like Robinhood and Revolut, while retaining the decentralization advantages of blockchain.

Technical Choice: Why MegaETH

Why did HelloTrade choose MegaETH as its underlying chain? Kevin lists three core reasons.

Performance First. To build a trading system comparable to top brokerages, extremely high throughput and stability are needed. After extensive testing, MegaETH generates a mini-block every 10 milliseconds, making it the fastest among mainstream public chains. Some future features depend on this level of performance.

Ethereum Conviction. Kevin has long believed in ethereum’s security, neutrality, and rich ecosystem. MegaETH acts as a “high-speed processing layer” built on ethereum—inherit its security while providing lightning-fast execution environment.

Team Execution. Many blockchain projects start with grand plans but few are truly implemented. Kevin sees the MegaETH team as real builders, with vision and practical spirit.

User Experience Design: Lowering Web3 Barriers

For crypto applications to achieve mass adoption, several technical barriers must be overcome—wallet setup, gas fees, fiat on/off ramps. HelloTrade’s approach is to gradually eliminate these frictions:

Users won’t pay gas fees; all transaction costs are covered by the platform. For newcomers unfamiliar with Web3, HelloTrade partners with embedded wallet providers, allowing users to create wallets directly with email; advanced users can connect their self-custodial wallets. Regarding fiat on/off ramps, the team is actively integrating multiple channels to deliver a smooth experience similar to traditional broker apps.

The mobile app is HelloTrade’s flagship product. Kevin admits that most current crypto apps still lag behind top Web2 apps in interface, experience, and reliability. HelloTrade aims to bridge this gap—delivering user experience like Robinhood, but powered by blockchain underneath.

Additionally, HelloTrade commits to providing live customer support. Users can contact real people via email, SMS, or phone—something rare on most DEXs.

Liquidity and Market Maker Incentives

Liquidity is the lifeblood of trading platforms. Kevin’s idea is: attract real users with strong products, and liquidity will follow naturally. Market makers tend to trade where activity is high, so the primary task is to create genuine trading demand.

Second, HelloTrade is developing a unique incentive system. Since after-hours and weekend liquidity are scarce, the platform will dynamically adjust leverage, funding rates, and fees to make providing liquidity during these periods more profitable. The goal is to ensure market depth, stability, and reliability 24/7.

Challenges and Risk Control

The biggest technical challenge is achieving “true 24/7 trading.” Without exchange matching after hours and on weekends, HelloTrade must rely on external price sources, Friday’s closing prices, and weekend order book data for pricing. The platform also plans to collaborate with traditional financial institutions over weekends to improve price accuracy and predictability.

On the product side, HelloTrade will not limit itself to perpetual contracts. Kevin recognizes that high-leverage products are not suitable for everyone, and the team plans to gradually introduce lower-risk derivatives—still offering leverage but with milder penalties for adverse movements.

Risk management is paramount. Kevin remembers BlackRock’s credo: “Trust takes decades to build, but only minutes to lose.” HelloTrade is especially cautious about asset security and extreme market conditions. Lessons from FTX and others have made them serious about asset segregation, risk controls, and DeFi security infrastructure.

For extreme scenarios, the team is conducting large-scale simulations and backtests—especially for “black swan” events like October 10. Traditional finance’s price limits and circuit breakers have been in place for years for good reason, and HelloTrade is preparing thoroughly for such extreme pressures.

Goals and Ambitions

Kevin’s clear definition of HelloTrade: it’s not just another crypto product, but a Web3-based platform that recreates Web2 user experience, attracting millions who have never traded on-chain.

Key performance indicators will evolve over time. Initially, focus will be on daily active users(DAU), trading volume, and open interest. But the real metrics are user retention and feature engagement—these don’t directly generate revenue but reflect user participation. The more time users spend on the app, the deeper their relationship with the platform, making it the most valuable long-term asset.

Looking back at BlackRock’s IBIT success, Kevin realizes that a similar era of opportunity is now unfolding in on-chain US stocks. As 24/7 trading platforms mature, they will become the main venues for weekend price discovery, bringing in more liquidity. Many traditional financial institutions, bound by fiduciary duties, will eventually be forced to trade on these platforms.

What HelloTrade aims to do is seize this upcoming explosive track.