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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

Alerts

HashKey Raises $100M

Eric F. Risley
February 1, 2024
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On January 15, 2024, Hong Kong-based digital asset financial services firm, HashKey Group, raised $100 million in a Series A funding round, valuing the company at over $1.3 billion.

Transaction Overview

On January 15, 2024, Hong Kong-based digital asset financial services firm, HashKey Group, raised $100 million in a Series A funding round, valuing the company at over $1.3 billion, with investments from undisclosed strategic partners, institutional backers, and Web3 entities which include OKX Ventures.

 

Company Description

HashKey Group, based in Hong Kong with 120 employees, is an institutional-focused exchange and venture capital investor. 

 

Founded in 2018, HashKey Exchange & Custody offers a suite of crypto capabilities to Asian institutional investors including brokerage services, trading services, staking infrastructure that supports over 40 chains, and Multi-Party Computation (MPC) based custody capabilities. HashKey Exchange, their largest business, is a crypto asset exchange regulated by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, with 155,000 registered users and a daily trading volume of $630 million for the past month. HashKey Exchange also offers a brokerage service for accredited investors, providing secure crypto asset trading with a minimum size of $100,000, such as USDT/USD and BTC/USD pairs.

 

HashKey has also announced several products intended to support the emergence of so-called Web 3.0 DApps.  These include HashKey DID (Digital Identify), a digital wallet named HashKey Me, and a software developer support effort named HashKey Hub.

 

Founded in 2015, HashKey Capital manages venture capital fund investing in blockchain projects, including tokens and equity, from pre-seed to Series B. They have $1B+ assets under management across 3 funds. Significant investments include dYdX, FalconX, Animoca Brands, Polkadot, and many others, totaling 268 total investments according to PitchBook.

 

Funding

HashKey’s first publicly disclosed funding is this Series A financing although prior funding is implied.  HashKey failed to disclose specific investors, rather opting for more generic descriptions of types of institutions, other than OKX Ventures.  OKX Ventures is a $100M fund owned by OKX, the large crypto exchange.  They have 142 active companies in their portfolio today, according to Pitchbook.  Post-money valuation of this financing is over $1.3B.

 

The new capital will be used to enhance HashKey’s Web3 ecosystem, expand its Hong Kong-licensed business products, and support global growth in compliance with regulations. This follows the company’s acquisition of a Capital Markets Services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

 

Competition

HashKey Group competes with a broad array of other crypto brokers and exchanges such as OKX, Bithumb, Binance, Kucoin, Bitstamp, and Crypto.com among others.  HashKey’s Web 3.0 DApp efforts are designed to complement building products on a variety of blockchains, complementing those efforts more than competing directly.

 

Architect Partners’ Perspective

Can you say Deja Vu?

 

Crypto asset investment platforms bear a striking resemblance to traditional investment platforms and asset managers.  One may reasonably conclude that they are fundamentally a crypto assets specialized version of Robinhood, TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, and others of that ilk.

 

Growth will driven by regulatory clarity, the evolution and maturation of the investment theses for specific individual crypto assets (also referred to as tokens), new products like the recent Bitcoin ETFs and futures markets, the broadening of investor participation, and perhaps most importantly, the building of trust and confidence in the legitimacy of both the asset class and the companies and projects that support the industry.

  

Sources 

PitchBook, Company Website, Press Release