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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

Elliot Chun
May 25, 2024
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If the U.S. Regulatory Environment shifts from being the primary roadblock to a positive supporter, by 2030, 66% of S&P 500 companies will own a blockchain or crypto product or service that is actively being used by their customers.

 

This week was the most encouraging signal for U.S. regulatory and crypto relations with positive developments on:

 

  • Listings of Spot Ether ETFs -> further appetite to make the crypto asset class available to U.S. investors

 

  • Senate repeal of SAB 121 -> Senate vote of 60-38, indicating bipartisan support to strike a crypto-negative accounting rule

 

  • House passing of FIT21 (Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act) -> bill that would establish a comprehensive digital assets regulatory framework including customer protections

 

Positive U.S., Bipartisan, Congressional, and Regulatory activity in the crypto industry is both unprecedented and much-welcomed.

 

Architect Partners spoke at this week’s Digital Asset Week California event in San Francisco on “The Future of Crypto as an Institutional Asset Class” panel where we discussed the positive impact of the BTC ETFs (it’s less than what most of the industry believes), if there will be a similar impact with Spot Ether ETF (of course, even with the non-staking component), what other institutional use cases are gaining real traction today (payments, tokenization of RWA) and what is the most significant deterrent to institutional adoption (regulation, ease of use, reputational risks).

 

Public filings for holdings of Investment Funds (13F) from Q1 were released, which is the first time we are seeing who the investors of BTC ETFs are. As of Mar 31, over 600 professional investment firms reported owning over $3.5B worth of BTC ETFs. As expected, holders include the largest global TradFi institutions – Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, UBS, BNP Paribas, RBC – and asset managers – Millenium ($1.9B), Boothbay ($377M), Schonfeld ($248M), Pine Ridge ($206M), Aristeia Capital ($163M), Graham ($101M), CRCM ($97M), and Fortress ($54M).

 

In the first of another expected trend, the state of Wisconsin’s Investment Board announced a $160M+ investment into BTC ETFs. I anticipate all 50 states will have a BTC ETF allocation within 24 months.

 

This U.S.-based participation by the world’s most sophisticated investors is proof of how critically important it is for our industry to prioritize making the adoption and use of crypto assets easy for all market participants.

 

The uncontrollable part of that statement is the regulatory environment, which is why the Spot Ether ETF news is so significant. Looking a level deeper, Ether – the token that facilitates the Ethereum Layer1 ecosystem – has historically been considered a utility token and therefore treated more as a commodity that is used in everyday activities instead of a security that represents a store of value with future appreciation potential.

 

A Spot Ether ETF’s existence represents a structural shift in Ether’s market positioning as a pure institutional investment asset as holders will own Spot Ether ETFs with the sole expectation of value appreciation. As currently structured, holders of the Spot Ether ETF will not participate in activities related to the operating of the Ethereum network, i.e. staking, that direct holders of ETH do participate in.

 

This is a very significant statement for the go-forward prospects of how all institutions will approach their crypto and digital asset strategies as the structure more clearly aligns with why an asset is owned or held (store of value, medium of exchange, operating the network).

 

Notable is the recent naming of a new, high-performing trade – BEGS (Bitcoin, Ether, Gold, Silver) – that represents investments with no cash flow and is currently at all-time highs. Normalization of crypto assets in investment vernacular has a real impact on adoption.

 

Material U.S. political progress to our industry will transform the speed at which institutions MUST adopt the technology and its multitude of use cases or face extinction. A U.S. regulatory framework creates a velocity of innovation environment that accelerates an institution’s buy-over-build decision-making and drives a robust M&A environment. This bodes well for crypto and digital asset companies building high-quality, institutional-grade products and services.

 

I will be bold and say that in May 2024, our industry officially transitioned from #TheGreatPurge and entered into #TheGreatSurge.

 

Architect Partners will be at Consensus in Austin from May 27 – Jun 1. Consensus has historically been the most important U.S.-based blockchain and crypto conference and we’ll give on-the-ground perspectives next week.