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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

Kraken Acquires NinjaTrader for $1.5B: The Largest Ever Bridge Deal

John Kennick
March 21st, 2025
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Transaction Overview

On March 20th, 2025, Kraken, a major cryptocurrency exchange, announced its acquisition of NinjaTrader, a U.S. based retail futures trading platform, for $1.5B. The deal is expected to close in Q2 2025. 

 

 

Target: NinjaTrader

NinjaTrader is financial trading software and brokerage for futures and forex trading, while also providing market analytics, trade simulation, advanced charting. They primarily serve roughly two million retail futures traders. In addition, Ninjatrade is a National Futures Association-registered introducing broker (and thus subject to CFTC oversight), and partners with Future Commission Merchants for its clearing and trade execution capabilities. 

 

NinjaTrader was founded in 2003 by Raymond Deux, is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and employs approximately 400 team members. In 2019, the company was bought-out by Long Ridge Equity Partners, DRW Venture Capital, and Capital Southwest. The company then went on to raise $86M in debt. Part of this debt was utilized to acquire Tradovate, a cloud-based futures trading platform, which was estimated to be worth $115M in enterprise value. 

 

 

Buyer: Kraken

Kraken is a global cryptocurrency exchange that enables users to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies. The platform offers advanced trading features—including margin trading, futures, and staking—tailored to both businesses and individual users. It also has market share within the stable-to-fiat onramp market – with over 40% of global market share among the major CEX companies. 

 

Notably Kraken is coming off of a strong 2024, where its revenues grew 123% YoY and at a 28% 2-year CAGR to $1.5B. This comes alongside an ARPU (Average-revenue–per-user) of $2,023. Kraken also had an Adjusted EBITDA of $380M. Operationally, the business recently reported over $42.8B assets on the platform, 2.5M funded accounts and a total trade volume of $665B, which is a 148% YoY increase and a 46% 2-year CAGR. 

 

Kraken was founded in 2011 by Jesse Powell and Thanh Luu, the company is headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and employs over 2,600 team members across 12 countries. The company was last valued at $10.8 billion following an acquisition financing round led by 2B Global, Novos Capital and The K Fund in February 2022, right at the peak of the crypto market. Investors include Tribe Capital, SBI Investments, Nelstone Ventures, Electric Capital, Blockchain Coinvestors, in addition to 166 more investors.  

 

 

Transaction Parameters

Kraken acquired NinjaTrader for $1.5B, with the form of consideration (cash or stock or a combination) being undisclosed. For the foreseeable future, NinjaTrader will act as an independent platform.

 

Comparable transactions include Kraken | CryptoFacilities for $100M, BitStamp | Robinhood for $200M, Satang Crypto Exchange | Kasikornban for $102.8M, Orama | BTG Pactual for $97M, Coinsquare & Coinsmart | WonderFi for $70M, LedgerX | MIAX for $50M. 

 

 

Strategic Rationale

This acquisition allows Kraken to expand its product offering to include U.S. futures for both crypto and traditional markets, which aligns with Kraken’s broader multi-asset-class strategy and ultimate entry into equities trading and payments. 

 

The press release lays out 4 clear areas of synergy: 1) Kraken acquires NinjaTraders CFTC-registered FCM license allowing for crypto futures and derivatives in the U.S., 2) Kraken’s U.K. and E.U. MiFID and Australian securities licenses accelerates NinjaTrader’s global expansion, 3) both customer bases can now trade crypto, futures and traditional financial products, and 4) Kraken clients get access to NinjaTrader’s analytics, execution engines and liquidity, while Kraken provides crypto-liquidity and trading UI. 

 

 

Architect Partners’ Observations

Large crypto native firms are turning attention to inorganic growth once again. A very strong Q4 has helped increase the capital to use and firms are increasingly eager to deploy.

 

For Kraken, this is a product growth driven acquisition. As they’ve previously expressed interest in expanding capabilities beyond crypto, adding complementary futures trading is an easy step, allowing not only crypto futures access directly but expanding to other asset classes.

 

Kraken’s strategy diverges from their main US competitor, Coinbase, in that Coinbase seems focused on all things crypto while Kraken is leveraging its crypto foundation to expand into the wider financial services world. WIth a wider product focus, there are more opportunities for inorganic growth.

 

We see this transaction as a good sign for capital market activity. We always love “bridge transactions” where traditional financial services firms acquire a crypto native. This shows a longer term optimism that the industry can be part of the larger ecosystem. A reverse bridge deal, like Kraken’s deal here, is also a good sign with similar positive signals.

 

Additionally, sizable deals generally force competitors to pay attention and see if they need to act. We know several players that have moved their acquisition interest from the passive  “we’ll take a look” to a more active posture of “let’s see what’s out there”. As bankers, we love to see it.

 

Sources 

PitchBook, NinjaTrader Press Release, Kraken Press Release, The Block