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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 July 14 – July 20

Eric F. Risley
July 20, 2025
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Another very active week for crypto M&A.

 

The headline announced transaction was another Bitcoin treasury strategy transaction, now over $91 billion by our count. In this case, an Adam Back and Cantor Fitzgerald–controlled entity is merging with another Cantor Fitzgerald–controlled special purpose acquisition corporation (SPAC) in a $3.6B transaction.

 

Separately, the extension of the treasury strategy continues to expand to other tokens. Architect Partners has identified over 30 companies whose token accumulation strategy includes tokens other than Bitcoin or Ethereum. This week the Layer 1 blockchain, Hyperliquid, with an unfortunately named token, HYPE, was the center of attention. The other curious trend is that cash-flush companies without viable businesses are active participants in this phenomenon, in this case Sonnet BioTherapeutics, in a transaction valued at the “lucky number” of $888M.

 

Now back to real, substantive, operating strategy–driven M&A, two notable transactions this week, Figure’s re-merger of previously spun out Figure Markets and the acquisition of Coin Metrics by Talos.

 

Figure Technologies has built one of the most impressive “real world” blockchain-based businesses by offering and powering the infrastructure for tokenized second mortgages. As highlighted in our M&A Alert (here), Figure has funded over $16B of HELOCs, making them the largest non-bank originator in the US. Stablecoins are getting the attention, rightly so, however, Figure is demonstrating the value proposition of tokenized instruments, at scale, in the real world.

 

Lastly, smart order routing specialist, Talos, announced the acquisition of data supplier Coin Metrics in a great example of “vertical consolidation”. As highlighted in our M&A Alert (here), strategically, at its simplest level, Coin Metrics supplies Talos with real-time pricing data across multiple execution venues. This data feeds Talos’s smart order routing algorithms, allowing it to offer best execution services to institutional investor clients.