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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
September 15, 2023

SEC chair Gensler testified before the Senate Banking Committee this week. Though the legislators’ attention was more focused on AI and ESG, Mr. Gensler’s crypto comments echoed his familiar refrain about rampant fraud and manipulation in the sector. He’ll face another round of scrutiny from the House Finance Committee at the end of the month, where he may face more pointed questions about his approach to crypto. Gensler has faced severe criticism, with some suggesting an intent to kill startups such as Coinbase and Ripple and to allow the trusted old guard such as Blackrock, Goldman, and JPMorgan to take over the digital assets market.

 

Yet outside the walls of the courtroom and legislature, there are increasing signs of collaboration, not competition, between the old and the new. For example, Deutsche Bank, the largest and traditional German bank, has partnered with Swiss crypto firm Taurus to explore digital asset custody and tokenization. Franklin Templeton, the giant asset manager that made waves earlier this year with a tokenized money market fund, joined the spot Bitcoin ETF crowd with its own application this week. PayPal has teamed up with Paxos on its stablecoin initiative. And the London Stock Exchange Group is exploring blockchain enhancements to traditional asset trading capabilities, though whether an internal or collaborative effort is unclear. These are but a few of many examples, and we expect to learn more before the year is out.

 

In the midst of this collaborative current, Coinbase has introduced a Web3 wallet through its Prime unit, intended as a tool enabling institutions to interact with on-chain applications and gain access to NFTs and other aspects of the DeFi world. Opportunities for institutional integration are exciting on their own, but the move also highlights the impressive scope of activity at Coinbase. Their new Layer 2 blockchain, Base, hit record daily transaction volumes this week after bringing the breadth of Coinbase’s reach to startups such as the social app Friend.tech. Coinbase kicked off an institutional crypto lending platform earlier this month, with the intent to fill the void left by numerous beleaguered or defunct lenders. And on Wednesday, Mr. Armstrong announced their decision to integrate the Bitcoin Lightning network, adding their muscular endorsement to numerous other prominent exchanges that support Lightning as a scalable and cost-efficient solution for Bitcoin transactions.

 

Back in the courtroom, Coinbase is of course leading the industry’s battle with the SEC, and yesterday Mr. Armstrong entered another fray by endorsing DeFi protocols and cautioning the CFTC against a regulation-by-enforcement approach in its recent actions against Opyn, ZeroEx, and Deridex. This combination of commercial collaboration and regulatory confrontation is certainly a lot to take on, yet it may be just what our industry needs as this eventful year nears its final quarter.