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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 February 17 – February 23

Eric F. Risley
February 23, 2025
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February 17th – February 23rd

PERSPECTIVES by Eric F. Risley 

 

Will stablecoins proliferate to become use-case specific?

 

This week, Figure announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission approved YLDS—an effective equivalent to a stablecoin. Put simply, YLDS is a traditional money market fund (a security) structured as a digital asset (token) and managed on the Provenance blockchain. Similar instruments have been issued by Hashnote (just acquired by Circle), BlackRock (BUIDL), Franklin Templeton (BENJI), and Arca (ArCoin). To date, none have scaled commercially beyond relatively modest levels. Currently, the total outstanding value of tokenized money market instruments is around $4B compared to $221B of stablecoins in their non-security form.

 

These securities-based stablecoins have emerged as a regulatory-compliant way to offer holders yield—a far more meaningful proposition as interest rates have risen substantially in recent years. In fact, BlackRock’s BUIDL currently offers a 4.5% APY, which is significant. Europe’s MiCA regulations prohibit traditional stablecoin issuers from offering interest, and U.S. stablecoin legislative proposals suggest that offering yield could classify such instruments as securities.

 

Of course, this is more complex than the simple explanation above, but one can see the risks clearly. This complexity is certainly among the motivations driving Circle’s acquisition of Hashnote (as noted in our M&A Alert) and we anticipate further strategic moves to align stablecoin value propositions with evolving regulatory requirements.