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Swyftx Acquires Caleb & Brown
Swyftx Acquires Caleb & Brown

Transaction Overview

On July 1st, 2025, Swyftx, one of the largest Australian cryptocurrency exchanges, announced a definitive agreement to acquire Caleb & Brown, a high-net-worth-focused crypto brokerage, for an undisclosed amount.

 

Target: Caleb & Brown

Caleb and Brown is a Melbourne-based, high net worth focused crypto brokerage that specializes in personalized trading services across the digital asset landscape. Caleb & Brown focuses on the relationship model used successfully across traditional  financial services – every client that comes onto their platform gets assigned a broker to assist them in executing trades  and handling all customer service needs. Caleb and Brown’s core services include 1) Brokerage Services, which provide personalized 24/7 trading support for 250+ digital assets, 2) an OTC Desk, which provides high volume trading solutions with deep liquidity and competitive pricing, 3) the Caleb and Brown Asset Management, an actively managed crypto asset fund for accredited investor, 4) crypto custody. 

 

The business has more than AUD $2 billion of digital assets under custody and was founded by Rupert Hackett and Dr. Prash Puspanathan in 2016. C&B is led by CEO Jackson Zeng and has 64 team members across both Australia and the US. Caleb & Brown has not raised any outside capital. 

 

Architect Partners’ Observations

Architect Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Caleb & Brown. 

 

Swyftx’s acquisition of Caleb & Brown marks the largest acquisition targeting high net worth crypto investors. It also reflects two important shifts in the evolution of crypto exchanges, particularly within the ANZ region.

 

First, high-net-worth client service is becoming a strategic differentiator. Exchanges are beginning to recognize that personalized brokerage and deep client relationships offer a competitive advantage while greatly reducing attrition. This is a model that high-net-worth clients are accustomed to in their financial lives. Caleb & Brown’s approach, which assigns a dedicated broker to every client, stands apart from the high-volume, low-touch models that dominate the market. Swyftx gains access not only to clients but also to an established business model that emphasizes trust, service, and retention in a way few crypto exchanges have pursued.

 

Second, this is a milestone moment for ANZ crypto M&A. While there have been many plays for global expansion by exchanges, this is the first of its kind in Australia moving into the US, signaling that the region is entering a more active phase of market maturity. 

 

We believe this transaction will serve as a catalyst for further strategic activity to expand globally and to augment services as companies seek differentiation in both product and customer segments.

 

Strategic Rationale

Swyftx is acquiring Caleb & Brown to expand into the United States via C&B’s regulatory framework, and to acquire the relationship model inherently required with a higher-tier customer base. This acquisition will grant Swyftx entry into the U.S. 12 to 24 months faster than otherwise possible organically. Furthermore, the acquisition diversifies Swyftx’s primarily retail client base to include 25k+ high net worth individuals in numerous countries. 

 

“Caleb & Brown has quietly established one of the most impressive brokerage offerings in the world, with a heavily differentiated private client service. We see enormous growth potential.” – Jason Titman

Crypto M&A Snapshot

Crypto M&A Snapshot (Week of October 13 – October 19)

Eric F. Risley
October 19, 2025

Obvious in retrospect.

 

We have been highlighting “bridge M&A” for years. This is either traditional businesses acquiring crypto capabilities or the reverse. Each side brings strategic value to the other. Crypto businesses deliver the innovation, traditional businesses provide the customer relationships, or “distribution.” 

 

Unfortunately, the majority of our discussions with decision-makers on both sides have an innate conviction that “we can build what we don’t have, no need to acquire.” But why? It’s crystal clear to us that this mindset must and will change to “Can we acquire our missing requirements?” 

 

This week, Ripple demonstrated exactly this mindset, acquiring a well-established and decidedly traditional enterprise treasury management business for $1 billion (M&A alert). 

 

Ripple has executed a very impressive set of strategic moves to take the singular leadership position to enable broad-based crypto payments. It’s really very simple: a set of well-established companies already enable payments for businesses and consumers. Via this move, Ripple is acknowledging that reality and acquiring those capabilities and relationships to make them its own. We expect many others to follow. The convergence of crypto and traditional payments has begun and will play out over the next decade. M&A will be an important strategic tool for both crypto-payment aspirants and traditional payment players.

 

See our “Crypto Payments: The Strategic Opportunity” research for our framework for how this all happens (Part I, Part II,  Part III). Please feel free to reach out for a conversation; we have informed viewpoints and thoughts to share.