eToro’s strategic investment in Extended, an onchain perpetual futures exchange, signals something more than a typical venture bet — it maps out a concrete path toward bringing decentralized derivatives to mainstream retail investors through the Zengo self-custody wallet.
Key takeaways
- eToro has become a strategic investor in Extended, an onchain perpetual futures exchange built on Starknet, with the round reported by CoinDesk at $12.5 million.
- The investment launches a partnership between Extended and Zengo, the self-custody wallet eToro acquired earlier this year for approximately $70 million.
- Extended supports more than 100 perpetual markets across crypto, equities, FX, and commodities, and has processed over $245 billion in trading volume as of June.
- eToro plans to integrate Extended’s derivatives engine directly into Zengo, letting users trade onchain perpetual futures while retaining custody of their assets.
- Jump Crypto and Alber Blanc also participated in the funding round alongside eToro.
eToro’s Strategic Investment in Extended Onchain Derivatives
eToro led a $12.5 million funding round for Extended, according to CoinDesk — though neither eToro nor Extended disclosed the investment size in their own statements. Jump Crypto and Alber Blanc also participated. What both companies did confirm is that the deal marks the start of a formal partnership, with Extended stating on X that eToro “is now a strategic investor” and that the collaboration aims at “expanding access to global financial markets through next-generation on-chain infrastructure.”
Extended describes the partnership as a step toward “bridging traditional financial assets and decentralized trading environments” — language that reflects eToro’s broader ambitions rather than a narrow product integration.
What Extended actually is
Extended is a perpetuals decentralized exchange built on Starknet, founded by former Revolut employees. Its founder, Ruslan Fakhrutdinov, previously served as Revolut’s crypto head. The platform supports more than 100 perpetual markets spanning crypto, equities, foreign exchange, and commodities — a cross-asset scope that goes well beyond what most decentralized exchanges offer. As of June, the exchange had processed more than $245 billion in cumulative trading volume.
Fakhrutdinov framed the next chapter plainly: “The first phase was building for DeFi natives. The next is expanding the infrastructure and partnerships needed to support the next stage of onchain derivatives.” Extended also plans to move into spot trading, tokenized real-world assets, and multi-asset collateral.
Integration with Zengo Wallet and eToro’s Onchain Strategy
The Extended investment builds directly on eToro’s acquisition of Zengo, a self-custodial wallet provider announced in April. Bloomberg and other outlets reported the deal was worth roughly $70 million. At the time, eToro said the acquisition was designed to “accelerate its strategy of connecting traditional finance with on-chain infrastructure.” Zengo co-founder and CEO Ouriel Ohayon said joining eToro would let the wallet “expand access to self-custody and on-chain finance.”
Now the shape of that strategy becomes clearer. eToro plans to integrate Extended’s perpetual futures engine directly into the Zengo wallet, giving users access to onchain derivatives while retaining full control of their assets. Over time, the company also intends to bring broader DeFi products into the core eToro platform.
Elad Lavi, eToro’s executive vice president of corporate development and strategy, told CoinDesk: “We are seeing growing demand from our users for seamless access to DeFi products. Our recent acquisition of Zengo and our investment in Extended are key parts of our strategy to meet this demand and expand our Web3 ecosystem.”
Ohayon put it in broader terms: “Capital markets are increasingly converging with digital asset infrastructure. eToro’s investment in Extended reflects a mutual conviction that the future of trading will be digital, accessible and can operate 24/7, beyond the traditional trading week.”
The combination is strategically significant. Pairing Zengo’s self-custody infrastructure with Extended’s derivatives engine creates a setup where retail users can trade perpetual futures across a wide range of assets — crypto, equities, FX, commodities — without ever surrendering control of their holdings to a centralized custodian. That’s a meaningful shift from how retail brokerage accounts have traditionally worked.
Retail Brokerages Racing Into Onchain Trading
eToro is not moving in isolation. The broader push by retail brokerages into onchain financial services has accelerated sharply. Robinhood this week launched the public mainnet of Robinhood Chain, its own Arbitrum-based Layer 2 network, while also expanding its tokenized stock offering and announcing plans to extend perpetual futures into commodities like gold and oil.
Elsewhere, Coinbase has moved into perpetual futures, and prediction market operator Kalshi recently entered the perpetuals business. The pattern is consistent: platforms that built their reputations on simple, accessible investing are now racing to build out what might best be described as an “everything exchange” — a single destination for traditional assets, tokenized instruments, and onchain derivatives.
Perpetual futures, once a niche crypto product, have become one of the industry’s fastest-growing markets. As trading platforms increasingly list contracts tied to equities, commodities, and other real-world assets, the line between crypto-native venues and traditional financial markets keeps blurring. eToro’s move — anchoring itself to a Starknet-based exchange founded by ex-Revolut talent — positions it firmly within that convergence rather than waiting on its edges.
The strategic logic is hard to ignore. eToro already has a large retail user base comfortable with multi-asset trading. Extended brings the decentralized derivatives infrastructure. Zengo handles self-custody. Assembling those three pieces creates an onchain trading stack that few retail platforms can currently match.
FAQ
What is the nature of eToro’s investment in Extended?
eToro has become a strategic investor in Extended, an onchain perpetual futures exchange built on Starknet. The funding round, which CoinDesk reported at $12.5 million, also includes Jump Crypto and Alber Blanc. The investment initiates a formal partnership between Extended and Zengo, eToro’s self-custody wallet.
What is the relationship between Extended and Zengo?
The investment round marks the start of a partnership aimed at integrating Extended’s perpetual futures engine into the Zengo wallet. The goal is to let users access onchain perpetual futures across more than 100 markets while retaining full control of their assets through self-custody.
How does this partnership benefit eToro users?
It enables users to trade onchain perpetual futures — covering crypto, equities, FX, and commodities — directly through the Zengo wallet, without giving up custody of their assets to a centralized party. eToro also plans to bring broader DeFi products into its core platform over time.
How does eToro’s move compare to other retail brokerages?
eToro joins a wave of retail brokerages expanding into onchain financial services. Robinhood has launched its own Arbitrum-based Layer 2 chain and is extending perpetual futures into commodities. Coinbase has also entered the perpetuals market, reflecting an industry-wide convergence between traditional brokerage and decentralized trading infrastructure.
Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.
