September Spotlight: HELLO DEX, Club, & Killer Whales Season 2

thehellolabs avatar
HELLO Labs
@thehellolabsSep 3, 2025

The Spaces convened Shotgun (host), Nosh, and Sander (Hello Labs) for a focused update on Hello Labs’ product flywheel: Hello DEX, Hello Club, and Killer Whales TV. Sander unpacked how trading fees in crypto currently leak to exchanges/market makers and explained Hello DEX’s pivot: 50% of all swap fees go to the listing project/founder, with the remaining platform share recycling value to HELLO stakers (25% buybacks to rewards, 15% buy-and-burn) and 10% to treasury. Projects can list free, allocate a small portion of LP from Uniswap/Pancake, and benefit across BNB Chain, Ethereum, and Base, with fiat on-ramps and builder integrations planned. Nosh linked the DEX to a weekly, live Killer Whales format, prediction markets, and invest-alongside-KOL mechanics; Season 2 adds more top-tier judges, ThreadGuy as host, and a $1.5M grants/incubation pool. Hello Club will offer non-inflationary, native yields on 15/90-day locks funded by real revenues (DEX fees, media, subscriptions, quests, KOL campaigns). Community Q&A confirmed HELLO is tradable now at trade.hello.one and clarified rewards math. A meme coin founder (Burb) shared support and Base migration. The session closed with roadmap cadence: DEX/Hello Trade live, Hello Club soon, then Killer Whales S2, S3, and the weekly live stream.

Hello Labs Spaces: Hello DEX revenue model, Hello Club staking, Killer Whales Season 2/Live, and founder onboarding

Participants and roles

  • Shotgun (host, Hello Labs Spaces)
  • Nosh (co-host/panel, Hello Labs)
  • Sander (Hello Labs leadership; referenced as CEO by panel)
  • Nathan (Hello Labs; present, minimal on-mic)
  • Guest: Burb/Verb (community project representative; recently migrated to Base)

Market backdrop and opening context

  • Nosh noted a choppy broader market heading into September, with rate cuts anticipated and many global crypto events underway. Despite uneven majors performance over the weekend, Shotgun observed positive volatility and good trades in memecoins. The team emphasized building through the cycle rather than turning bearish.

Hello DEX: Problem framing and the new revenue model

The founder’s problem in Web3

  • Sander outlined a pervasive misalignment: projects raise funds, pay for listings and marketing, but ongoing trading value gets extracted by exchanges, market makers, and some KOL pipelines. Founders often don’t realize how much fee revenue their project’s volume generates for third parties.
  • Hyperliquid has made on-chain exchange fee flows more transparent; what’s visible there is only a fraction of what centralized venues and other DEXs monetize off project volume.

Hello DEX solution and fee split

  • Listing is free. Projects deploy LPs on Hello DEX and set their own fee tier (lower for stables, higher for volatile/meme pairs). Hello DEX then shares fees to realign incentives:
    • 50% of trading fees go directly to the project (founder/LP deployer) as claimable fees.
    • From the remaining 50%:
      • 25% is used to market-buy HELLO and fund the Hello Club staking rewards pool.
      • 15% is used to market-buy and burn HELLO (permanent reduction in circulating supply).
      • 10% goes to the Hello treasury for product development, marketing, and operations.
  • Practical example (Sander): At a 1% fee on $100 daily volume, $1 fee is generated: $0.50 to founder; $0.25 to staker rewards via HELLO buyback; $0.15 to HELLO buy-and-burn; $0.10 to treasury. Scale that to $100,000/day and the numbers become $500/$2,500/$1,500/$1,000 respectively.
  • Fee configuration guidance: e.g., 2.5% fee for memecoins; low fees for stable/stable pools.
  • Operationally, founders logging in with their wallet can claim fees (in either base asset or both sides of the pair, depending on flow). Arbitrage programs keep prices consistent across venues.

What projects fit and why it matters

  • Sander explicitly invited:
    • Memecoins (culture-forward; often big early volumes; can now become self-funding via fees)
    • Existing utility tokens already on Uniswap/PancakeSwap to allocate even 5–10% of their LP to Hello DEX and compare yield; Hello will help provision LP, run arb, and provide expected-fee calculations.
    • Builders developing on top: bond markets, pumped-up applications, yield curves, prediction layers, etc. Several teams are already integrating on top of Hello DEX.
  • Hello is preparing grants/liquidity vouchers to help with initial LP bootstrapping.

Chains, access, and current availability

  • Deployed at launch across: BNB Chain, Ethereum mainnet, and Base.
  • HELLO is already tradable on Hello DEX: trade.hello.one
  • Integrations:
    • Fiat on-ramps (multiple providers) to buy HELLO directly.
    • Cross-chain swap support integrations mentioned (e.g., from BNB/Ethereum/Solana) for a smoother onboarding path.

Why this is disruptive

  • The model lets projects monetize their own volume, reducing reliance on token dumping to fund operations, listings, or KOL budgets. It also gives HELLO holders native participation in protocol revenues (via buybacks and burns) while funding continued development.

Hello Club: Native yield for long-term participants

What it is

  • Hello Club is a staking/vesting venue for HELLO with flexible locks (15 or 90 days). Unlike inflationary "staking" emissions, yield is sourced from Hello Labs’ real revenues:
    • Hello DEX fee flows (as above)
    • Media/TV distribution revenues and revenue-sharing arrangements
    • Prediction-market subscription fees
    • Quest and super-quest programs
    • A KOL advertising marketplace model for projects paying creators for content

How rewards reach stakers

  • From DEX fees alone, 25% of fees are used to buy HELLO and fund staking rewards; 15% are used to buy and burn HELLO. The Club aggregates additional business-line revenues to provide native (non-inflationary) yield.

Timelines and philosophy

  • Launch is “very soon” (team avoids hard dates; Sander hopes within ~two weeks). Hello Labs stresses sustainability: no token migration, no VC money taken; all existing HELLO holders can participate. The Club underpins a multi-product flywheel that aims to compound value back to long-term stakeholders.

Killer Whales: Season 2 upgrades and the new Live format

Live weekly model and ecosystem tie-in

  • Beyond seasonal studio production, Hello Labs is launching a weekly livestream format (Killer Whales Live) across platforms (e.g., X and YouTube) to cover the hottest projects and narratives in real-time (example cited: recent football-related narrative TVL spike).
  • Integrations planned into Hello’s product stack:
    • Prediction markets on outcomes (e.g., “sink or swim” calls by the whales and the community)
    • Community investing alongside KOLs at the same terms (mitigates insider advantages)
    • All featured projects are expected to list on Hello DEX, creating organic fee flows feeding founders and HELLO stakers.

Season 2 specifics

  • “Bigger, better, bolder” vs. Season 1, with:
    • More top-tier whales/Judges (e.g., CMO of CoinMarketCap and recognizable CT/YouTube figures)
    • A show host/voiceover: ThreadGuy, to translate crypto jargon for broader audiences
    • A $1.5M combined incubation/acceleration/grant pool (Hello Incubator + partners incl. CoinMarketCap and Hacken) for projects receiving swim votes
    • Stronger show structure and broader distribution
  • Season 1 outcomes cited: >10–15% of the 22 featured projects raised multi-millions or were acquired during/after the show, highlighting the dealflow quality and narrative-shaping power.

Roadmap alignment

  • Public roadmap (set early in the year) sequence: Hello DEX live → Hello Trade rollout → Hello Club launch → Killer Whales Season 2 premiere → Killer Whales Season 3 and the weekly Live format. Team reiterated commitment to "say-then-do" delivery.

Founder onboarding and calls to action

Listing on Hello DEX

  • Steps:
    • Apply via the Hello website (hello.one). Provide project name, token address, and CMC link.
    • Hello team can estimate first-week fee yields, assist LP setup, and advise fee tiers.
    • Optional: apply for liquidity voucher/grant for initial LP bootstrapping.
  • Immediate benefits:
    • 50% fee share to project/founder wallet from day one (no token dumping needed)
    • Promotional support and integration opportunities (DEX, media, quests)
    • Arbitrage support for price continuity with other venues

Killer Whales (TV/Live) applications

  • Projects can apply via hello.one (menu: Killer Whales). Hello Incubator and Accelerator also source dealflow via VCs, L1 foundations, and KOL networks. Selected projects gain media amplification, incubator access, potential funding, and DEX integration.

Community Q&A highlights and clarifications

  • Is HELLO available on Hello DEX now? Yes. trade.hello.one, with fiat on-ramps integrated and cross-chain swap partners being added.
  • Reward mechanics recap (founders and stakers):
    • 50% of fees to project founders (claimable)
    • 25% to buy HELLO and fund staking rewards; 15% to buy-and-burn HELLO; 10% to treasury
  • Which tokens fit best initially?
    • Memecoins (benefit from higher fee tiers and high turnover); existing utility tokens can mirror a portion of their LP on Hello DEX to capture fee yield; whales can spin up LPs for tokens they hold. Hello supports BNB/Ethereum/Base out of the gate.
  • Hello Trade status: soft/staff launch underway; LPs not fully live at the time of the Space; more updates imminent.

Community and partner shout-outs

  • Burb/Verb’s project thanked Hello for support; they focus on enabling creators and recently migrated to Base. Hello emphasized openness to collaborating with creators of all sizes.

Practical next steps

  • For founders:
    • Submit DEX and Killer Whales applications via hello.one
    • Start with a small LP slice (5–10%) to compare net yield vs. other venues
    • Choose fee tier appropriately (e.g., higher for memes, lower for stables)
    • Explore grants/liquidity vouchers with Hello Labs
  • For HELLO holders/community:
    • Prepare to stake in Hello Club upon launch (15/90-day locks; native yield)
    • Join weekly Killer Whales livestreams and Spaces for market updates and announcements
    • Track announcements for Season 2 premiere and evolving integrations (prediction markets, co-invest features)

Key takeaways

  • Hello DEX realigns fee economics: founders keep 50% of trading fees; HELLO stakers benefit via buybacks and burns; the protocol funds future development sustainably.
  • Hello Club turns HELLO into a native-yield asset based on real business revenues across media, DEX, and engagement products, not token inflation.
  • Killer Whales is evolving into a weekly live, high-production flywheel that drives attention, liquidity, and fee flows back into the Hello ecosystem and participating projects.
  • Deployment spans BNB, Ethereum, and Base from day one; fiat on-ramps and cross-chain swap integrations make onboarding straightforward.
  • Applications are open for both DEX listings and show participation; the incubator/accelerator and a $1.5M pool further support high-potential teams.