eToro has agreed to acquire Zengo, the keyless MPC wallet with over two million users, for approximately $70 million in mostly cash. The deal, announced on April 15, 2026, marks the first time a publicly traded brokerage has bought a self-custody crypto wallet outright.
A Brokerage That Wants You to Hold Your Own Keys
eToro (NYSE: ETOR) built its reputation on copy-trading and fractional stocks. Crypto was always part of the mix, but users traded through eToro's custodial infrastructure. Zengo flips that model. Founded in 2018, it uses multi-party computation to split private keys across multiple parties so that no single device, server, or person ever holds the complete key. There is no seed phrase. If a user loses their phone, biometric recovery replaces the traditional 12-word backup.
The acquisition does not merge the two products. Zengo's wallet will remain separate from eToro's regulated brokerage platform. Users will continue interacting directly with third-party protocols for swaps, staking, and DeFi access rather than routing through eToro's order book.
"We believe the future of finance will be increasingly digital, decentralized and user-controlled, with self-custody playing an important role," eToro CEO Yoni Assia said in the announcement.
Why Zengo, Why Now
Zengo's track record is the cleanest sales pitch a wallet company can make: zero hacks since launch. In an industry where wallet exploits and seed phrase thefts account for billions in annual losses, that record matters. The wallet serves users across 180 countries with on-ramps, token swaps, staking, and dApp access baked in.
For eToro, the timing aligns with a broader push into on-chain infrastructure. The company went public in 2025 and has been signaling interest in tokenized assets, decentralized trading, prediction markets, and perpetual futures. Owning an MPC wallet gives eToro the plumbing to support those use cases without building from scratch.
Zengo CEO Ouriel Ohayon framed it as an acceleration: "Joining eToro allows us to accelerate that mission at a global scale. Together, we can expand access to self-custody and on-chain finance."
MPC Is Spreading Beyond Wallets
Zengo was among the first consumer wallets to ship MPC as a default security model rather than an enterprise add-on. The same technology now underpins several crypto card products. MetaMask's card uses MPC-based smart accounts, and institutional custody providers like Fireblocks have built their entire stack around MPC key sharding.
The $70 million price tag puts a concrete number on what the market thinks MPC wallet infrastructure is worth. For context, Zengo had raised roughly $34 million in venture funding across multiple rounds, so early investors are getting roughly a 2x return, modest by crypto standards but unusual for a wallet company that never issued a token.
What Changes for Zengo Users
In the short term, nothing. The press release emphasizes continuity: existing features stay, the wallet stays independent, and users keep direct protocol access. The interesting question is what comes next. eToro's distribution, currently over 35 million registered users, could funnel a portion of its user base toward self-custody for the first time. That is a different proposition than a crypto-native user choosing Zengo on their own.
There is also a revenue angle. Zengo earns fees on swaps, fiat on-ramps, and staking. Under eToro's umbrella, those same services could scale to eToro's existing user base without Zengo needing to spend on customer acquisition.
The deal is subject to customary closing conditions. Neither company disclosed a specific timeline.
The Bigger Pattern
eToro buying Zengo fits a pattern that has been building for the past year. ICE (the NYSE's parent company) invested in OKX. Morgan Stanley launched a spot Bitcoin ETF. Goldman Sachs filed for a Bitcoin ETF wrapper. Traditional finance is not just allocating to crypto, it is buying the infrastructure layer. The difference with eToro's move is the self-custody piece. Most TradFi entrants have opted for custodial models where they control the keys. eToro is betting that users will want both options.
BTC traded at $73,983 and ETH at $2,321 as of April 15, with the Fear & Greed Index at 52 (Neutral). The market barely reacted to the news, which tracks: a $70 million acquisition is a rounding error for a $1.48 trillion Bitcoin market cap. The significance is structural, not price-driven.
Overview
eToro is acquiring Zengo, the MPC-based keyless wallet with over two million users, for approximately $70 million in mostly cash. The wallet will stay independent from eToro's brokerage, preserving direct protocol access for users. Zengo's zero-hack track record since 2018, its MPC security model, and its 180-country footprint give eToro a self-custody layer without building one internally. The deal is the first outright acquisition of a self-custody wallet by a public brokerage.
