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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 January 15 – January 21

Steve Payne
January 21, 2024
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Three transactions were announced this week, none with announced valuations or of material size.

 

Xalles, a pink sheet fintech holding company, acquired CashXAI, an early-stage network of self-service cash-to-digital-currency kiosks in Mexico.  CashXAI has major plans to expand across Mexico, the U.S. and internationally.

 

Taki Games merged with Unite, a Polygon-based web3 gaming company to further the transition of its web3 mobile casual game business from Solana to Polygon network.  Taki is not the only game company to announce a shift to Polygon this week, as Polygon is viewed as a strong L2 Ethereum scaling solution for web3 games, due to a large user base and low gas fees.  Concurrently, Taki announced a partnership with Quickswap, a decentralized exchange (DEX) on Polygon, to launch TAKI liquidity pools. These liquidity pools will allow seamless transfers of TAKI tokens between the Solana and Polygon networks.

 

We recently published our Year-End 2023 Crypto M&A and Financings Report which highlighted the activity of the past year, in detail and led by data, and took a look towards what is next.  You can download the full report here. 

 

One of our themes addressed developer tools & infrastructure, where Mysten Labs is a leader.  Mysten’s first product, Sui Blockchain, is a newish layer 1 blockchain network that could pose a threat to Solana.  Which brings us to the most interesting deal announced this week: NAVI Protocol, the #1 liquidity protocol on the Sui blockchain, acquired Volo, a premier liquid staking service provider (liquid staking allows users to earn yields on their staked SUI tokens while maintaining liquidity).  According to NAVI, this move marks the first time a protocol in the Sui ecosystem will offer combined borrowing, lending, and liquid staking services.  Mysten itself has raised some $330M, led by FTX.  Other details on this transaction have not been announced.