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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

Public Companies

Crypto Public Companies Snapshot

Eric F. Risley
May 19, 2023
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It’s time to change.  Bitcoin Miners should be referred to as Bitcoin Network Operators.

 

Today the Bitcoin network is comprised of 16,866 reachable nodes, has been in existence for fourteen years, has validated and stored over 839 billion transactions, and has achieved an overall uptime of 99.9882659% since inception and a perfect 100% since 2013.  Impressive indeed.  

 

The issuance of Bitcoin, built into the protocol code as an economic reward, has created the necessary economic incentive for node operators to build today’s network.  Architect Partners estimates that roughly $31 billion has been invested just in the necessary data centers and specialized computers.  Additionally, the electricity expenditure today totals roughly $6 billion per year.  

 

This is an extraordinary phenomenon where an incentive, created by an idea, and a collective buy-in to that idea, has translated into a physical manifestation costing $10s of billions.  However, this Bitcoin incentive (commonly analogized as a mining reward) is declining and will eventually stop.

 

Transaction fees are also explicitly featured in the Bitcoin Whitepaper. “Once a predetermined number of coins have entered circulation, the incentive can transition entirely to transaction fees and (Bitcoin can) be completely inflation free”.

 

Historically, transaction fees have been a very small proportion of the total compensation received by operators of nodes.  This has begun to change, particularly during periods of high demand for transaction validation. In fact, last week, transaction fees represented 36% of total rewards (in Q1 2023, the average was 7.9%) to node operators.

 

Our thesis is that transaction fees will become the dominant component of node operator compensation as the Bitcoin network matures. Why continue to call those that run this network “miners” when mining rewards are gradually declining and will eventually be eliminated?