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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

Crypto M&A Snapshot

Week of December 25 – December 31

Eric F. Risley
December 31, 2023
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The past offers lessons, do we dare look?

 

Spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) have existed since February 2021 and today 22 Bitcoin spot ETFs manage $6B of Bitcoin.  In total all current ETFs only manage 0.73% of Bitcoin supply.  However, all these ETFs are located, and only accept investors from, outside the United States.   More specifically, Europe and Canada are the leading issuers according to CoinGecko in their December ETF update.  

 

With such a relatively lackluster global track record at attracting capital, will a U.S.-based spot Bitcoin ETF be any different?  While certainly not a perfectly applicable measure, let’s start with the size of the European and Canadian equity capital markets as a proxy.  According to the World Bank, Europe (the U.K. included, perhaps to their chagrin) and Canada represent 17.4% and 2.8% of global equity market capitalization, respectively.  The United States is 44.3%, or a bit over two times the size of Europe and Canada combined.  Therefore, if the scale of market size is the only determinant, perhaps a U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF isn’t such a big deal.  

 

However, the sponsors of U.S.-based ETFs are some of the largest financial asset managers in the world, with exceptional distribution capabilities, brands and thought leadership.  Most would conclude their participation and advocacy of Bitcoin (and perhaps other crypto assets) provides the legitimacy to elevate them into a bonafide, investable asset class.  We’ve named this theme “From Speculation to Investing”.

 

This week Tokyo-based Monex Group announced the acquisition of one of the Canadian ETF pioneers, 3iQ.  Monex is acquiring a majority stake of between 68% – 72% for a reported $39.8M, valuing the full business at approximately $57M.  Asset managers are commonly valued as a multiple of total Assets Under Management (AUM).  In this case, as of November 28, 2023, 3iQ has $592M in AUM, representing an Acquisition Consideration / AUM multiple of 0.1x, generally fairly consistent with the norm.

 

Finally, 3iQ demonstrated remarkable quick success in attracting capital, however, it has been volatile as demonstrated by the chart documenting assets under management for their Bitcoin ETF since inception.