Key Takeaways:
Digital broker eToro (ETOR) led a $12.5 million funding round for Extended, an onchain perpetual futures exchange founded by former Revolut crypto head Ruslan Fakhrutdinov, as online brokerages race to bring decentralized finance to mainstream investors.
"We are seeing growing demand from our users for seamless access to DeFi products," Elad Lavi, eToro's executive vice president of corporate development and strategy, said. "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."
Jump Crypto and Alber Blanc also participated in the round. Extended had processed more than $245 billion in trading volume as of June and supports over 100 perpetual markets, according to the company. The firm plans to expand into spot trading, tokenized real-world assets and multi-asset collateral.
The investment builds on eToro's $70 million acquisition of self-custody wallet Zengo in April and offers a clearer picture of the company's onchain strategy. EToro plans to integrate Extended's perpetual futures engine directly into the Zengo wallet, giving users access to onchain derivatives while retaining custody of their assets. Over time, the company plans to bring broader DeFi products into the core eToro platform, Lavi said.
The move comes as competition among digital brokerages shifts toward blockchain-based trading infrastructure. Rival Robinhood rolled out its own blockchain on July 1, expanded its tokenized stock offering and said it plans to extend perpetual futures beyond cryptocurrencies into commodities such as gold and oil. Coinbase has expanded into perpetual futures, and prediction market operator Kalshi recently entered the business.
Perpetual futures, once a niche crypto product, have become one of the industry's fastest-growing markets. Trading platforms are increasingly listing contracts tied to equities, commodities and other real-world assets, blurring the line between crypto-native and traditional financial markets.
"Capital markets are increasingly converging with digital asset infrastructure," Ouriel Ohayon, managing director at Zengo, said. "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 investment points to a broader race to become the "everything exchange" for financial markets. As trading increasingly moves onchain, the lines separating brokerages, crypto exchanges and prediction markets are becoming harder to distinguish. Extended's expansion into spot trading and tokenized assets will test whether onchain derivatives can capture volume from centralized incumbents.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
