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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

Insights

Week of December 2 – December 8

Todd White
December 11, 2024
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December 2 – December 8 (Published Dec 11th)

PERSPECTIVES by Todd White

 

24 Crypto Private Financings Raised: $82M

Rolling 3-Month-Average: $206M

Rolling 52-Week Average: $213M

 

Crypto-focused credit cards have been around for some time, providing a familiar and convenient tool to earn crypto rewards and/or to pay for goods or services with crypto. There are different varieties, with traditional card issuers merely offering crypto-based rewards for purchases, while exchanges allow their customers to spend their crypto with merchants who don’t (yet) accept such payments directly. While the latter offer a limited off ramp – permitting users to spend crypto but not otherwise transfer or cover their holdings – they have gained some traction as a viable bridge between the fiat and crypto worlds. 

 

Major exchanges such as Crypto.com, Binance, Coinbase, and Gemini offer cards with various fees and features, and payments-oriented platforms such as Bybit, BitPay, and Wirex use pre-funded crypto accounts to permit users to spend with merchants or withdraw through ATMs. Two emerging players in the space closed early financing rounds this week, both securing $10m in new capital. 

 

Interlace, a Singapore-based card issuer and digital asset manager, raised $10m in its Series B1 led by Bitrock Capital. They offer enterprise-level card issuance – claiming over 4.5M cards issued to date with 100+ partners – and carry licenses is the US, Hong Kong, and Lithuania. Proceeds will be focused mainly on building their team, with four key hires announced concurrent with the round closing.

 

Brighty, a Swiss-based team building crypto-credit card payment technology, also secured $10M in financing this week from Futurecraft Ventures. Brighty provides a digital finance platform to enable card payments, and is hoping to increase adoption through improved user experience and transparency, rewards on stablecoin balances, and integrated AI-enabled investment management functionality.

 

Both represent smaller rounds for teams building tools to interface between the crypto and traditional financial worlds. Eventually – sooner or perhaps later – we expect the crypto and fiat words to be integrated and hopefully seamless. But that will take some time, and in the interim, these rounds demonstrate investor conviction that linking crypto to real world payments and usage remains ripe for innovation and improvement.

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Contact ryan@architectpartners.com to schedule a meeting.