eToro has taken a strategic stake in Extended, an onchain perpetual futures exchange, and will pair the platform with Zengo, the self-custody wallet it acquired earlier this year. Neither company disclosed the investment size, though CoinDesk reported the round totaled $12.5 million. The deal comes as Robinhood pushes its own onchain network live, with retail brokerages racing to build onchain trading infrastructure.
eToro has become a strategic investor in Extended, an onchain perpetual futures exchange, and said the round marks the start of a partnership with Zengo, the self-custody wallet eToro acquired earlier this year. Neither eToro nor Extended disclosed the size of the investment in its own statement. CoinDesk reported the round totaled $12.5 million.
Extended frames the deal as a bridge to onchain markets
Extended said on X that the partnership aims at "expanding access to global financial markets through next-generation on-chain infrastructure." The exchange described the round as a step toward bridging traditional financial assets and decentralized trading environments.
Built on Starknet, spanning multiple asset classes
Former Revolut employees, including Ruslan Fakhrutdinov, the fintech's former crypto head, founded Extended, a perpetual futures exchange built on Starknet. The exchange supports more than 100 markets spanning crypto, equities, foreign exchange and commodities, according to its own documentation. Pairing Zengo's custody with Extended's derivatives engine would let eToro offer onchain perpetuals to wallet users who keep control of their own assets.
The Zengo deal opened the door in April
eToro's acquisition of Zengo, a self-custody wallet provider, announced in April, laid the groundwork for the Extended stake. Bloomberg and other outlets reported the deal was worth roughly $70 million. eToro said the acquisition was meant to accelerate its strategy of connecting traditional finance with onchain infrastructure.
Brokerages race into onchain trading
The move places eToro alongside other retail brokerages pushing into onchain trading. Robinhood this week launched the public mainnet of Robinhood Chain, its own Arbitrum-based Layer 2 for financial services and real-world assets, as brokers race to build out onchain product suites beyond simple spot trading.
Source: The Defiant
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