eToro has agreed to acquire U.S.-focused brokerage TradeZero for up to $231 million as the trading platform pushes further into the American market while crypto activity among its users continues to fall.

eToro said Tuesday that the cash-and-stock transaction would add TradeZero’s active-trader customer base and brokerage infrastructure to its U.S. operations, with the acquisition expected to close in the first half of 2027 after regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions are met.

The company expects the purchase to increase adjusted earnings per share during the first year after completion. TradeZero generated about $80 million in revenue during the 12 months ended June 30, 2026, with an 81% gross margin, according to eToro.

Founded in 2015, TradeZero serves active traders in the United States and also operates in Canada and international markets. Its platforms provide trading in stocks and options alongside extended-hours access, short-selling tools, market scanners and other services geared toward frequent traders.

“Today’s announcement is an important step in building our US business,” eToro co-founder and CEO Yoni Assia said. He added that combining the companies would provide “a faster path to launching new products for US customers.”

TradeZero deal adds to eToro’s U.S. expansion

The acquisition would give eToro additional infrastructure in a market where the company has operated since launching its U.S. platform in 2019. Europe and the U.K. have historically accounted for much of eToro’s business, while the company has been expanding in the Americas and Asia-Pacific.

Under the transaction terms, eToro would pay cash and issue up to 2.5 million new Class A shares, with total consideration reaching as much as $231 million after customary purchase-price adjustments.

Jefferies is acting as eToro’s exclusive financial adviser, while Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is serving as its lead deal counsel. J.P. Morgan Securities is advising TradeZero, with Choate, Hall & Stewart serving as the brokerage’s lead counsel.

The deal was announced alongside eToro’s second-quarter results, when adjusted earnings reached $0.68 per share, above the $0.61 expected by analysts surveyed by LSEG. Net trading income from equities, commodities and currencies increased 24% year over year to $141.6 million, led mainly by equities trading.

Trading patterns among existing customers also changed during the quarter. More than 60% of users who had traded commodities during the previous two quarters went on to trade equities during the second quarter, according to the company.

Chief Financial Officer Meron Shani said nearly nine in ten of the users who moved from commodities into equities had also traded cryptocurrencies on eToro, showing significant overlap between customers using its different asset classes.

Crypto trading on eToro has continued to fall

Crypto activity remained much weaker than a year earlier despite eToro continuing to invest in digital-asset products.

The company reported $1.59 billion in total revenue for the second quarter, compared with about $2 billion during the corresponding period of 2025. Revenue reported from crypto assets fell to roughly $1.34 billion from $1.9 billion a year earlier.

Because eToro reports cryptoasset revenue on a gross basis, much of the figure is offset by the cost of acquiring the cryptoassets involved in customer transactions. Crypto-related cost of revenue reached about $1.35 billion during the quarter, while net income attributed to crypto assets was $19.7 million.

Total company net income stood at $53.4 million, while equities and commodities-related trading generated about $141 million in net trading income.

The decline followed weakness recorded earlier in the year. In May, crypto.news reported on eToro’s results showing that April crypto trades had fallen 32% from a year earlier to 2 million, while the amount invested per crypto trade dropped 22% to $207. The company nevertheless posted $82 million in first-quarter net income, up 37% year over year.

The drop accelerated into July. eToro recorded about 1.4 million cryptocurrency trades during the month, 73% fewer than a year earlier, while the amount invested in crypto fell 50%.

Earlier first-quarter figures showed the same pattern in crypto-related earnings. Crypto generated about $13 million in profit during Q1, down from $46 million in the same quarter of 2025, even as eToro’s overall net contribution increased to $258 million.

At the same time, assets under administration reached $17 billion at the end of March, up 15% year over year, while funded accounts increased 12% to 4.02 million. By April, assets under administration had increased further to $18.7 billion.

eToro is still building its crypto business

Lower crypto trading activity has not stopped eToro from adding products and infrastructure tied to digital assets.

On April 30, the company completed its acquisition of Zengo, a self-custodial crypto wallet provider that uses multi-party computation technology rather than conventional seed phrases. eToro said the purchase would help connect its traditional financial products with onchain infrastructure.

The company also activated its BitLicense earlier this year to begin offering cryptocurrency trading in New York. At the time, eToro had expanded its crypto offering to more than 150 assets globally, including more than 100 assets available to U.S. customers.

In July, eToro led a $12.5 million strategic investment in decentralized perpetual futures exchange Extended, with Jump Crypto also participating. As previously covered by crypto.news, the financing was accompanied by a partnership between Extended and Zengo to explore access to financial markets through onchain trading infrastructure.

Extended operates using StarkWare’s StarkEx technology and focuses on perpetual futures that can be traded through a self-custodial structure. The platform opened trading to all users in late 2024.

eToro has also pushed equities onto blockchain rails

eToro’s work around digital assets has included attempts to combine its equities business with blockchain-based settlement rather than relying only on cryptocurrency trading.

In July 2025, eToro announced plans to issue tokenized versions of U.S.-listed stocks on Ethereum, alongside 24/5 trading for 100 U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds. The company also disclosed work with CME Group on spot-quoted futures.

Under the proposed tokenization model, users would be able to move supported stock tokens onto Ethereum and redeem them against underlying positions held through eToro. Assia said at the time that the company planned to start with stocks as part of its tokenization work.

The initiative followed eToro’s 2019 acquisition of Danish tokenization company Firmo and its subsequent introduction of tokenized gold, silver and fiat currencies. Its U.S. product expansion has since continued alongside those blockchain initiatives, including New York crypto trading, the Zengo purchase and the planned acquisition of TradeZero.

Russia’s central bank has proposed allowing Bitcoin, Ether and Tether’s USDT to trade on regulated exchanges as the country prepares to open its new crypto market framework to investors.

The Bank of Russia said Tuesday that the three crypto assets have been included in a proposed list of digital currencies that could qualify for organized trading, based on requirements covering market capitalization, trading activity and price history in overseas markets.

Bitcoin, Ether and USDT meet the regulator’s proposed criteria because they have sufficient market size, average daily trading volume and at least five years of trading history outside Russia. The list has not yet been finalized, with the central bank accepting public comments until Aug. 24.

The selection provides an early indication of which cryptocurrencies ordinary Russian investors may be able to buy once the country’s new digital asset law takes effect on Sept. 1. Under the rules, non-qualified investors will only be allowed to purchase cryptocurrencies that satisfy standards set by the central bank.

Bank of Russia crypto list starts with BTC, ETH and USDT

Access for retail investors will remain subject to a 300,000-ruble annual purchase limit through each intermediary, equivalent to about $3,650 at current exchange rates. The cap applies separately to purchases made through brokers, crypto exchange services and asset managers.

Before completing any transactions, investors will also have to pass a knowledge test covering crypto investing and its associated risks.

“Before making transactions, all investors, regardless of their status, will have to pass a test and familiarize themselves with the risks of investing in crypto assets,” the Bank of Russia said.

The regulator said restrictions on non-qualified investors are intended to limit their exposure to sharp and unpredictable crypto price movements. Qualified investors must also complete testing, although they will not face the same purchase ceiling when trading cryptocurrencies through exchanges or over-the-counter markets.

The proposed asset list follows President Vladimir Putin’s signing of Russia’s digital currency law on Aug. 4, which placed the Bank of Russia in charge of deciding which cryptocurrencies can trade through organized markets and how the venues will operate.

As previously covered by crypto.news, the legislation created regulated access to cryptocurrencies for both retail and qualified investors while keeping crypto payments for ordinary goods and services prohibited inside Russia. The law’s main provisions are scheduled to take effect on Sept. 1.

Under the same legislation, crypto exchange providers must enter a special registry, hold at least 15 million rubles in equity and join an approved financial-market self-regulatory organization. Existing exchange services have until July 1, 2027, to comply with the registration requirements.

Exchanges will operate under new central bank rules

Before the law was signed, the Bank of Russia had already begun setting operating standards for the institutions that will support organized crypto trading.

In late July, the regulator released draft operating rules covering cryptocurrency exchanges, digital depositories and providers of digital currency accounts. The proposals allow exchanges to establish their own trading procedures while calculating market prices and weighted average prices for listed assets.

Digital depositories, which will maintain records of customer cryptocurrency holdings and transactions, would face minimum equity requirements ranging from 50 million rubles to 250 million rubles depending on the services they provide. The central bank also proposed requiring the capital backing such businesses to remain liquid and consist of high-quality financial assets.

The new system gives the Bank of Russia authority to maintain official registers of approved crypto market participants and establish requirements covering custody, accounting, trading and investor access.

Russian lawmakers had been working on the framework for several months before Putin signed it into law. During the legislative process, non-qualified investors were consistently assigned a 300,000-ruble annual limit for purchases of cryptocurrencies classified as sufficiently liquid.

A revision approved in July also removed wallet disclosure requirements that would have forced investors to declare their crypto wallet addresses. Instead, users were expected to report balances and transaction volumes under the revised proposal.

The same version allowed cryptocurrency to be used to buy Russian securities and locally regulated digital financial assets, while some large transfers abroad or to third parties could be delayed for up to two days. State Duma Financial Market Committee Chairman Anatoly Aksakov did not specify the transaction threshold that would trigger such a freeze.

Russian banks prepare for regulated crypto trading

Major Russian financial institutions have already begun preparing products for the regulated market.

Alfa-Bank has been testing cryptocurrency trading inside its Alfa-Investments brokerage application with a small group of qualified investors, according to reported testing in July. Its test interface reportedly included Bitcoin, Ether, Tether, USD Coin, Solana, Litecoin and Zcash.

The bank also plans to build a digital depository and crypto-to-ruble exchange infrastructure during 2026. Wider customer access remains dependent on regulations issued by the Bank of Russia, with Alfa-Bank previously saying a retail rollout could come closer to the fourth quarter if the regulatory timetable permits.

Sberbank has been making similar preparations. As reported by crypto.news earlier, the bank has been working on a crypto wallet and digital asset depository, with its custody infrastructure targeted for Dec. 1. It has also considered providing access to foreign crypto exchanges depending on the final licensing requirements.

T-Bank has also discussed plans to offer buying, selling, storage and crypto balance tracking through its mobile applications, while seeking approval to operate a digital depository. VTB has considered similar services as Russian banks prepare their systems for the regulated market.

Crypto payments remain banned inside Russia

The opening of regulated trading does not remove Russia’s existing prohibition on using cryptocurrency as a domestic payment method.

Under the law signed Aug. 4, cryptocurrencies cannot be used to pay for goods, services, information or intellectual property within Russia. Advertising that presents crypto as an option for ordinary domestic payments is also prohibited.

Separate provisions permit cryptocurrencies to be used for certain cross-border settlements between Russian residents and foreign counterparties. Exporters and importers can use eligible digital assets for foreign trade without the retail transaction limits applied to investment purchases, either through intermediaries or directly through crypto wallets, according to the regulatory framework.

For domestic investors, the immediate regulatory process remains focused on determining which assets can enter organized trading. Bitcoin, Ether and USDT are the first cryptocurrencies named under the central bank’s proposed eligibility criteria, while comments on the list and related requirements can be submitted to the Bank of Russia through Aug. 24.

CeDeFi trading platform Grvt has partnered with Ondo Finance to build a position of up to $100 million in the tokenization firm’s yield-bearing USDY product over the next 12 months.

According to Grvt, USDY will be integrated into Grvt Earn, where the tokenized Treasury product will become another source of returns behind the platform’s existing base yield rather than an asset users need to buy or manage directly.

Grvt plans $100 million USDY position

Under the arrangement, Grvt will hold and manage USDY on its own balance sheet, while income generated by the position will feed into the single base rate offered through Grvt Earn. The structure is designed to give users access to returns from several sources through one balance.

USDY is a tokenized secured note issued by Ondo Finance and backed primarily by short-term U.S. Treasurys, shares in Treasury-focused exchange-traded funds and bank deposits. Data cited in the announcement puts USDY’s assets under management at about $2.14 billion, with approximately 15,626 holders.

At that size, a fully deployed $100 million Grvt position would account for about 4.6% of USDY’s current assets under management. With USDY currently offering an annual percentage yield of roughly 3.5%, the allocation could produce around $3.5 million in annualized gross yield if the full amount is deployed and the rate remains at that level.

USDY accrues yield daily, and Grvt plans to combine the returns with other income already supporting Grvt Earn. Existing sources include revenue generated by the trading platform and lending activity through Aave.

Grvt CEO Hong Yea said the company designed Grvt Earn so customers could keep their capital earning returns without managing the infrastructure behind individual yield sources.

“We built Grvt Earn so users can keep their capital productive without having to manage the financial plumbing underneath it,” Yea said. “Together, we are creating a model where one balance can draw from multiple financial markets while remaining ready to trade.”

Rather than distributing USDY directly to Earn users, Grvt will manage the token on its balance sheet and incorporate the resulting returns into the product’s base rate. Users can therefore retain a single balance on the platform while Grvt handles the underlying allocation.

Yea said Ondo provides Grvt with access to the U.S. Treasury market through a tokenized product and linked the planned allocation size to the company’s expectations for using such assets in onchain financial services.

“Our target of building a USDY position toward $100 million reflects the scale at which we believe tokenized assets can support everyday onchain financial products,” he said.

Ondo Finance has expanded Treasury products onchain

The agreement adds another distribution channel for Ondo Finance, which has built several products that bring traditional securities onto blockchain networks.

USDY has previously been introduced into other decentralized finance markets. In February 2025, crypto.news reported on a campaign between Ondo and NAVI Protocol on Sui that used USDY as part of a liquidity incentive program. Participants could supply liquidity and qualify for rewards distributed in NAVX and USDY.

Ondo also operates OUSG, its tokenized short-term U.S. government Treasury product. Unlike USDY, which is structured as a yield-bearing secured note, OUSG provides qualified investors with tokenized exposure to short-duration U.S. government securities.

In May, an institutional settlement test involving JPMorgan, Mastercard, Ripple and Ondo used OUSG for a cross-border redemption on the XRP Ledger. The test moved the tokenized Treasury asset through blockchain infrastructure while JPMorgan’s Kinexys network handled the dollar payment to Ripple’s bank account in Singapore.

Ondo had previously expanded OUSG to the XRP Ledger in June 2025, allowing qualified purchasers to mint and redeem the product around the clock using Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin for settlement. At the time, OUSG had more than $670 million in total value locked across supported networks.

The company has since expanded beyond Treasury products. In June, Ondo brought a group of tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs to Hyperliquid’s HyperEVM, initially supporting 35 securities including SPY, QQQ, Nvidia, Tesla, Alphabet and Netflix. Its Ondo Global Markets platform had accumulated more than $970 million in total value locked and nearly $18 billion in cumulative trading volume at the time.

Tokenized Treasurys have become a major RWA segment

Grvt’s planned USDY allocation comes as U.S. government debt has become one of the largest categories in the tokenized real-world asset market.

As previously covered by crypto.news, the value of tokenized real-world assets excluding stablecoins reached roughly $31 billion to $34 billion by May 2026, compared with about $5.4 billion at the start of 2025. Tokenized U.S. Treasurys accounted for approximately $15 billion, while Ethereum hosted about 60% of tokenized RWA value.

Several large financial firms now operate products in the segment. BlackRock’s BUIDL is a tokenized money market fund distributed through Securitize, while Franklin Templeton’s BENJI represents shares in its OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund.

Franklin Templeton has also continued adding distribution routes for BENJI. In May, Kraken parent Payward agreed to integrate the product into its platform for collateral and cash-management uses, allowing eligible clients to put idle dollar balances into an onchain yield product.

A month later, Franklin Templeton added BENJI to MoonPay Trade, enabling institutional customers to exchange stablecoins including USDC and USDT for the tokenized fund through MoonPay’s onchain trading infrastructure.

Grvt expands after $19 million funding round

For Grvt, the Ondo deal follows a capital raise that gave the platform additional funding to develop its hybrid trading infrastructure.

In September 2025, Grvt raised $19 million in a Series A round for its zero-knowledge-powered decentralized exchange. The platform operates on ZKsync and combines elements of centralized trading infrastructure with onchain settlement and self-custody.

Grvt has positioned its architecture around privacy, security, and scalability for onchain financial markets. The September financing followed the development of its exchange infrastructure and was intended to support continued expansion of the platform.

More recently, Grvt released its own token as it continued building products around its trading and yield services. Grvt Earn now sits alongside that exchange infrastructure, with platform revenue and Aave lending already supplying parts of its yield before the planned USDY allocation is fully deployed.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have filed separate civil lawsuits targeting Goliath Ventures and its founder Christopher Delgado, alleging conduct consistent with a crypto Ponzi scheme that raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors.

The SEC’s action focuses on an alleged unregistered securities offering totaling at least $425 million from more than 1,300 investors, while the CFTC says roughly 1,600 customers contributed about $397 million tied to solicitations for crypto trading in Bitcoin and Ether. The agencies are seeking remedies that include restitution, disgorgement, penalties, and permanent bans—expanding potential consequences beyond a parallel criminal case already moving through the courts.

Key takeaways

• The SEC alleges Goliath raised at least $425 million via an unregistered offering and that investor funds were not invested as promised.
• According to the SEC, Delgado allegedly diverted at least $51 million for personal use and allegedly fabricated account balances and performance reporting.
• The CFTC alleges about $397 million came from approximately 1,600 customers after solicitations connected to crypto trading in Bitcoin and Ether.
• Both civil suits add securities and commodities-law enforcement actions, potentially enabling broader investor compensation and market bans than the criminal plea alone.
• Delgado has agreed to a bifurcated settlement in the SEC case that would impose permanent bars, pending court approval and final determinations on financial penalties.

SEC: Alleged unregistered offering and diverted investor funds

In its complaint, the SEC said Goliath collected at least $425 million from more than 1,300 investors through what it characterized as an unregistered securities offering. The agency alleged that investors were told their money would be placed into crypto liquidity pools, but that “none” of the funds or crypto assets were actually invested in the manner represented.

The SEC further alleged that Delgado diverted at least $51 million for personal use. The SEC also said Goliath used funds and crypto assets from new and existing investors to make earlier payments—an arrangement the agency characterized as inconsistent with the investment strategy sold to participants.

According to the SEC, Goliath promised monthly returns ranging from 3% to 10% and guaranteed investor principal, claiming the returns were generated from fees paid by traders using its liquidity pools. The SEC alleges that, in reality, the company made payments by recycling investor money and fabricated account balances and performance metrics to support the scheme.

The SEC also alleged that commissions were paid to sales agents who recruited investors. The agency said the business eventually faltered after it could no longer raise funds quickly enough to meet obligations, stopped making monthly distributions, and collapsed—an outcome the SEC said came after the company’s operations turned unsustainable.

CFTC: Commodities-law claims tied to Bitcoin and Ether trading solicitations

Separately, the CFTC said Goliath solicited funds for crypto trading in Bitcoin and Ether, attracting approximately 1,600 customers and at least $397 million. The agency’s complaint positions the conduct within commodities and trading enforcement frameworks, seeking consequences aimed at restoring losses and preventing continued market participation.

In its civil action, the CFTC is seeking restitution, disgorgement, civil penalties, trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction. While the SEC case centers on alleged unregistered securities and the handling of investor capital, the CFTC action reflects the regulator’s view that the underlying promotional and trading-related representations also triggered commodities-law concerns.

Delgado’s SEC settlement and what it does—and doesn’t—end

In the SEC matter, Delgado agreed to a bifurcated settlement, subject to court approval. The deal, as described by the SEC, would permanently bar him from violating the securities-law provisions charged in the complaint. It would also restrict him from participating in securities transactions outside personal-account activity and from associating with a broker or dealer.

The settlement leaves key financial components to be determined by the court, including disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty. In practice, this means the case can still produce significant financial exposure, even as certain legal and behavioral restrictions are agreed in principle.

Delgado is also tied to a criminal resolution. The article notes that he previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. The U.S. Department of Justice has said that at least $400 million was paid to Goliath and that Delgado admitted causing at least $250 million in investor losses. The DOJ further stated that forfeiture was part of the agreement, covering properties, vehicles, luxury goods, bank accounts, and crypto wallets traceable to the scheme.

These developments underscore why the SEC and CFTC actions matter: civil proceedings can pursue investor-focused remedies and broader prohibitions that may not be fully addressed through a plea deal alone. Together, the cases give regulators additional tools to seek compensation, impose penalties, and limit future access to regulated markets.

Why the paired SEC and CFTC cases signal a tougher enforcement stance

Running parallel civil actions under two different federal agencies is notable because it reflects a broader pattern in crypto enforcement: regulators are increasingly willing to frame the same promotional conduct through multiple legal lenses—securities and commodities—depending on how the offering and trading-related representations are structured.

Here, the SEC’s allegations emphasize return guarantees, alleged principal protection, and promised placement into liquidity pools—elements the agency says were used to attract capital under an unregistered offering. The CFTC’s allegations, meanwhile, tie customer solicitations to Bitcoin and Ether trading, supporting its request for trading-specific bans and other restrictions.

For investors watching these cases, one practical takeaway is that “getting the money back” often depends on how quickly courts move on disgorgement, restitution, and related orders. Another is that criminal outcomes do not necessarily close the door to civil enforcement: as the regulators seek permanent injunctions and long-term participation restrictions, the civil cases can continue to shape who is barred from markets even after criminal resolution.

Next, investors and observers will likely focus on court approval of the SEC settlement terms and the final rulings on disgorgement, interest, and penalties, along with how the CFTC case progresses toward relief such as restitution and permanent bans.