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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

Crypto Public Companies Snapshot

Todd White
August 25, 2023
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It is hard to avoid headlines about the crypto winter, the saga of SBF’s current abode and internet access, and who wants to sell who’s stolen crypto to whom. But the real story is developing beneath the headlines, and perhaps more quickly than anticipated.

 

For example, Citi released its third annual financial markets infrastructure whitepaper, listing digital assets and DLT adoption as one of three critical themes.  Their market survey that found three-quarters of the FMI industry are actively engaged in DLT/digital asset initiatives, and 79% view tokenization as the defining growth story in digital finance. Those are big numbers, among big institutions that provide the foundation of global financial and capital markets.

 

And three recent announcements highlight brewing competition in one of our favorite use cases – payments. Last Thursday, Mastercard heralded a new working group to explore the implementation of CBDC’s into the global payments. The “CBDC Partner Program” – which includes Ripple, Consensys, Fluency, Giesecke+Devrient and Fireblocks – will focus on complex often controversial issues facing CBDC deployment such as the inherent tension between privacy and transparency, technological security, and the challenge of user adoption amid skepticism about central control.

 

And the field of private digital payment options is increasingly crowded. On Monday, Coinbase announced a strategic minority investment in Circle (details not disclosed) and the dissolution of the pair’s Centre Consortium that has managed the issuance and governance of USDC stablecoin to date. Circle will now bring issuance and governance fully in-house and seek to add six additional blockchains to support USDC in an effort to enhance the interoperability of the world’s second-leading stablecoin.

 

Then Wednesday, SolanaPay’s integration with Shopify hit the tape, bringing Solana’s zero-fee and nearly-instant digital payment tool to Shopify’s vast global network of online merchants, starting with USDC and expanding to include other crypto assets. This of course is in the wake of last week’s PYUSD launch by the giant PayPal.

 

As with Citi’s report on financial market infrastructure, these strong moves by giants in global commerce (remember when we called it “e-commerce”?) portend potential seismic shifts in global finance and commerce built on blockchain-enabled tech. Surely these will prove more consequential than how frequently a certain household name gets to check his email.