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eToro has led a $12.5 million strategic funding round in Extended, an onchain exchange for perpetual futures.
Summary
- eToro’s Extended investment links Zengo self-custody tools with onchain perpetual futures trading access for users.
- Jump Crypto joined the round as brokerages move deeper into decentralized derivatives and market infrastructure.
- Perp DEX growth is pulling trading platforms toward self-custody, tokenized assets, and onchain execution.
Extended announced the round in a July 2 post on X, saying eToro led the investment and Jump Crypto also joined the deal.
Meanwhile, the funding is tied to a partnership between Extended and Zengo, the self-custody wallet eToro acquired earlier this year. The companies plan to work on access to global financial markets through onchain infrastructure. eToro said the partnership will explore ways to connect traditional financial assets with decentralized trading venues.
eToro leads a strategic investment in Extended@eToro is now a strategic investor in Extended. The investment round also marks the beginning of a partnership between Extended and @Zengo, a self-custody wallet recently acquired by eToro. The partnership will focus on expanding… pic.twitter.com/WZRDQq3Sqw
— Extended (@extendedapp) July 2, 2026Self-custody becomes part of the plan
Zengo gives eToro a direct route into self-custody products. The wallet uses multi-party computation technology, which removes the need for seed phrases while still giving users control over assets. It also supports swaps, staking, and access to decentralized applications.
eToro completed its Zengo acquisition on April 30 while reporting a sharp drop in crypto trading profit. The company said at the time that Zengo would support its plan to connect traditional financial products with onchain systems. The Extended deal now gives that plan a derivatives-focused path.
Extended builds onchain perps market
Extended was founded by former Revolut employees and opened trading to all users in late 2024. In its public launch announcement, the company said it planned to add unified margin with technical support from StarkWare.
The exchange is built on StarkWare’s StarkEx scaling engine. It focuses on perpetual futures, a type of derivative contract that has no expiry date. Extended says its model supports self-custody trading while aiming to keep execution fast enough for active traders. That structure places it between centralized crypto futures venues and fully decentralized trading platforms.
Perps growth draws larger firms
Perpetual futures remain one of the largest crypto trading markets. As crypto.news reported, CoinGecko’s 2026 Crypto Perpetuals Report found that perp DEX open interest share rose from 3.6% in early 2025 to 13.5% in 2026. The same report showed Binance and OKX still leading centralized perps trading, even as decentralized venues gained share.
That growth has drawn more attention from brokers and trading apps. Previously, crypto.news reported that Robinhood launchedperpetual futures tied to commodities, ETFs, and currencies for eligible European users. The rollout showed how crypto-style trading tools are moving into traditional markets.
Deal follows weaker crypto trading income
The investment comes after eToro reported lower crypto-related trading profit in the first quarter of 2026. As reported by crypto.news, crypto generated $13 million in profit during the quarter, or about 5% of eToro’s total net trading profit of $258 million. That was down from $46 million in the same period in 2025.
The Extended round shows that eToro is still building around digital assets despite weaker short-term crypto revenue. The company is using Zengo to strengthen its self-custody stack and Extended to enter onchain derivatives more directly.
Moreover, the move also places eToro closer to a market where trading apps, crypto exchanges, and decentralized platforms are competing for users who want faster access, direct asset control, and broader exposure to global markets.
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