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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

MoonPay Acquires Iron for at Least $100M

John Kennick
March 16th, 2025
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Transaction Overview

On March 13th, 2025, MoonPay, historically offering fiat to crypto onboarding capabilities, announced its acquisition of Iron, a platform that provides API-based stablecoin infrastructure for $100M.

 

Target: Iron

Iron (iron.xyz) provides turn-key stablecoin payment APIs, enabling developers to integrate global on/off-ramps, swaps, banking rails, payments, wallets, and virtual accounts into their applications. They serve PSPs, Fintechs, Banks, Enterprise Wallets, Remittance Platforms, FX Platforms, Treasuries, Onchain Banks, etc. 

 

Launched in early 2024 as a spin-out of Unstoppable Finance and still pre-access when the Bridge deal occurred, Iron.xyz is headquartered in Berlin with a team of 13 members. The company raised seed funding from w3.fund and its parent company also received venture capital from Lightspeed, Speedinvest, Backed, RockawayX, Inflection, Fabric and Discovery Ventures. 

 

Buyer: MoonPay

MoonPay is a fiat-to-crypto on-ramp provider that enables users to buy, sell, and swap cryptocurrencies and NFTs. The company offers on/off-ramp services as an API-integrated solution for businesses and directly to end users through its own non-custodial wallet.

 

MoonPay supports over 110 cryptocurrencies and 30+ fiat payment methods, including credit/debit cards, bank transfers, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, operating in more than 180 countries. To date, MoonPay has facilitated the creation of 20 million accounts and delivered over $6 billion in cryptocurrency.

 

In 2021, MoonPay reported reaching $150 million in annual revenue. The company has been profitable since launching its platform in 2019.

 

Founded in 2019 by Ivan Soto-Wright, Victor Faramond, and Maximilian Crown, MoonPay is headquartered in Miami, Florida, and employs over 300 team members across nine countries. The company was last valued at $3.4 billion following a $555 million Series A round led by Tiger Global and Coatue in April 2022, during the peak of the crypto market prior to the Crypto Winter. Other notable investors include Animoca Brands, Paradigm, Andreessen Horowitz, Genesis Accel, Cobalt Capital, WndrCo, and 122 additional backers.

 

Transaction Parameters

MoonPay acquired Iron for at least $100M, with the form of consideration (cash or stock or a combination) being undisclosed.

 

The direct comparable transaction is Bridge.xyz | Stripe for $1.1B (M&A Alert) and some secondary comparable transactions include Pay.so | Request Finance, Bit2Pay | MELD, Cryptpay | Hero, Membrane Finance | Paxos, Minke | Zengo, Diem | Silvergate Bank for $201M (Architect Partner’s advised, (M&A Alert), First Digital Trust | Fireblocks for $100M (M&A Alert)

 

Strategic Rationale

Officially, this acquisition has been framed as a means to expand MoonPay’s offering for enterprise customers include multi-currency treasury management, facilitate instant cross-border payments, and generate revenue from yield-bearing assets. Worth noting, Ivan Soto-Wright was quoted saying that “This is [MoonPay’s] Braintree moment” where “Iron’s technology positions MoonPay to become the definitive infrastructure provider for enterprise stablecoin solutions.”

 

Architect Partners’ Observations

As said very well by Ivan Soto-Write, today’s cross border payments are like international phone calls before the advent of Skype and Apple Facetime, widely expensive. In the case of payments add slow (often days), and are difficult to track status. Ripple was the first to build its business around this use case and value proposition, starting by using their XRP token, rather than a stablecoin. Since then, stablecoins have emerged as the preferred instrument for these payments and many, including Ripple are embracing this reality, building both business and consumer-focused businesses to capture this opportunity. Plain as day that others will follow, including those who already own the customer relationship; banks, enterprise payment software providers and a wide variety of financial technology companies.  

 

Sources 

PitchBook, Moonpay Press Release, The Block, CNBC