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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 Public Companies Snapshot (10/31/2025)

Crypto Public Companies Snapshot (10/31/2025)

John Kennick
October 31, 2025
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This past week earnings season began with Coinbase, Core Scientific and others making waves. Coinbase’s Q3 2025 was a major success. Revenue was $1.9B (+25% QoQ, +55% YoY), split between $1.0B in transactions (+37% QoQ) and $746.7M in subscriptions and services (+14% QoQ, +34% YoY). Adjusted EBITDA was $801M (+57% QoQ, +78% YoY). Trading volume reached $295B (+24% QoQ) and assets on platform were $516B.

The Deribit deal, closed on August 14, gave Coinbase instant scale in options and perps. It added about $52M to Q3 and helped push institutional transaction revenue to $135M (+122% QoQ) on roughly $236B of institutional volume (+22% QoQ). On a simple day-weighted view, that $52M over 48 days implies roughly $100M of “quarterized” revenue, or about $400M annualized, around Barclays’ $425–$450M 2024 revenue estimate, which frames the purchase at roughly 6.4–7.3x EV to revenue.

This quarter shows the “Everything Exchange” in action. Derivatives and options now sit alongside spot and perps, deepening institutional flow, while about $300B of custody and USDC economics extend monetization beyond trading. Coverage spans roughly 90 percent of crypto market cap, and Coinbase custodies more than 80 percent of U.S. BTC and ETH ETF assets, channeling high-quality assets and clients back to the platform. Net effect: derivatives lift activity and ticket size, custody and ETFs anchor balances, USDC and staking feed subscriptions and services, and together they turn episodic volume into steadier earnings that can support a higher multiple.

On a separate note, Core Scientific shareholders rejected CoreWeave’s approximately $9 billion all-stock acquisition. Shareholders argued that the deal would transfer one of the company’s most compelling growth opportunities to CoreWeave at an unduly low price. The transaction used a fixed-exchange-ratio structure, which does not protect sellers against declines in the acquirer’s share price. One way to address this is a collar (a price-protection mechanism). A collar either fixes the value of the consideration and lets the exchange ratio float within a band (a fixed-value, floating-ratio collar), or fixes the exchange ratio and lets the per-share value vary only within a cap and floor, often with mutual walk-away rights if the band is breached (a fixed-ratio, floating-value collar).