Is Extended Safe?
Risk Grade: B- (33/100)
Extended is rated as moderate risk — some novel mechanisms, generally well-understood.
Moderate risk — novel Starknet-native architecture and sequencer dependency create meaningful infrastructure risk. Strong growth trajectory with $100B+ cumulative volume and #1 TVL on Starknet, but the <1yr mainnet track record limits the grade. No exploits to date is a positive signal.
Extended is a perpetual futures DEX on Starknet built by a former Revolut team, offering crypto and TradFi asset perpetuals with cross-asset collateral and up to 100x leverage across 50+ markets. It is currently #1 on Starknet by TVL with $194M+ and has processed $100B+ in total volume. No exploits or security incidents since its August 2025 mainnet launch.
TVL
$161M
Mechanisms
6
Interactions
5
Value Grade
D+
Key Risks for Extended Users
The protocol runs entirely on Starknet, meaning if the Starknet sequencer goes down during volatile markets, your positions cannot be managed or liquidated. This has happened on other chains like Solana.
Cross-asset collateral means a crash in one asset could trigger liquidations that affect your entire portfolio across different asset types, even positions that are individually healthy.
The protocol launched on mainnet in August 2025 and has not yet been tested through a major market crash or black swan event.
Top Risk Factors
- •Built on Starknet with unified margin logic embedded in the base layer, creating deep coupling between the exchange and the underlying chain. Any Starknet sequencer downtime or censorship could halt all trading and liquidations.
- •Cross-asset collateral and unified margin mean a severe price dislocation in one asset class (e.g., TradFi perps) could cascade into liquidations across all user positions, including crypto holdings.
- •Relatively new protocol (mainnet August 2025) with limited track record through extreme market conditions. The unified margin system has not been stress-tested through a major market crash.
- •Oracle dependency for both crypto and TradFi asset pricing creates a broad attack surface, particularly for less liquid TradFi instruments where price manipulation may be easier.
How Extended Compares to Peers
Extended ranks #10 of 53 Derivatives protocols (top quartile — safer than most). At a risk score of 33/100, it's 6 points safer than the sector average of 39/100.
Adjacent peers: Rysk V12 (B-, 32/100) is ranked just safer, and Boros (B-, 33/100) is ranked just riskier.
See the full Derivatives sector leaderboard or the Extended vs Boros comparison.
Common Questions about Extended
Plain-English answers based on Extended's scores across Hindenrank's 8 risk dimensions. The highest-scoring (riskiest) dimension is Oracle Surface (5/10).
Has Extended ever been hacked or exploited?
Extended has had some operational issues or moderate incidents in its history. The track record dimension scored 6/15 — not catastrophic, but enough to flag. Look at the specific events and whether they were addressed by the team before drawing conclusions.
How much money is at stake in Extended?
Extended currently holds more than $161M in user deposits. A protocol of this size typically has deeper liquidity, more eyes on the code, and more attention from auditors — but it also means a single failure has a much larger blast radius.
What's the worst-case scenario for Extended?
Hindenrank has identified specific collapse scenarios for Extended. The most prominent: "Starknet Sequencer Outage During Flash Crash". The trigger condition is Starknet sequencer goes offline for 30+ minutes during a period when BTC drops more than 15% in an hour, preventing liquidations from executing. Reading through the full scenario list on the protocol page is the single best way to understand the actual failure modes — generic "smart contract risk" is rarely the thing that takes a protocol down.
Is Extended regulated or insured?
Extended has low regulatory exposure on Hindenrank's framework (3/10). The protocol is structured in a way that minimizes counterparty and jurisdiction concentration, though regulatory risk in crypto can change rapidly. No DeFi protocol carries FDIC-style insurance — even with low regulatory risk, depositors are not protected in the way bank customers are.
What are the biggest red flags for Extended?
Hindenrank's retail-focused risk audit flagged: The protocol runs entirely on Starknet, meaning if the Starknet sequencer goes down during volatile markets, your positions cannot be managed or liquidated. This has happened on other chains like Solana. Cross-asset collateral means a crash in one asset could trigger liquidations that affect your entire portfolio across different asset types, even positions that are individually healthy. The protocol launched on mainnet in August 2025 and has not yet been tested through a major market crash or black swan event.
Should beginners deposit into Extended?
Extended is rated B-, which is acceptable for users who understand the protocol's mechanism. Beginners should read the full risk breakdown and only deposit after they can articulate the top three failure modes. If you cannot explain how the protocol works, do not deposit.
How does Extended compare to safer Derivatives alternatives?
Extended is one protocol in Hindenrank's Derivatives coverage. The safest Derivatives protocols on the leaderboard tend to share three traits: a long incident-free track record, conservative mechanism design, and high-quality public documentation. Compare Extended against the full Derivatives ranking before committing capital.
For the full 8-dimension score breakdown, the radar chart, and dependency graph, see the Extended risk report.
Read the Full Extended Risk Report
This protocol has 2 collapse scenarios. 3 high-severity interaction risks identified. See the full mechanism classification, interaction matrix, and deep-dive recommendations.
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