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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

Financing

Week of July 21 – July 27

Todd White
July 30, 2025
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July 21 – July 27 (Published July 30th)

PERSPECTIVES by Todd White

 

36 Crypto Private Financings Raised: $712.9M

Rolling 3-Month-Average: $693.3M

Rolling 52-Week Average: $373.3M

 

The Bittensor network is a decentralized platform that combines artificial intelligence (AI) with blockchain technology to create a marketplace for machine learning models and data. It has a unique architecture that consists of a main blockchain called Subtensor and a series of “subnets,” specialized decentralized marketplaces focused on different digital commodities such as AI models, compute, data, storage and more. Anyone can participate as a Miner (providing AI models or resources), a Validator (ranking contributions) or a Subnet Owner (shaping subnets for specific use cases). Instead of one company controlling everything, Bittensor lets anyone contribute their AI skills or data and uses its Yuma Consensus mechanism to align incentives and reward contributions.

 

Originally founded in 2021, Bittensor has evolved to include diverse subnets for text generation, data curation and specialized inference, with numerous additional projects under development. The economic model revolves around TAO, the native token designed similarly to Bitcoin, with a predetermined capped supply to create structural scarcity. TAO is used to facilitate transactions within the Bittensor ecosystem, including user service fees, network rewards and staking, and provides for governance in a permissionless framework.

 

The TAO token’s market capitalization is currently about $3.5 billion. While pricing has been volatile, the capped supply presents potential for outsized gains if the network takes off. This outlook has attracted interest in TAO as a treasury asset, with groups such as Safello and TAO Synergies seeking to launch TAO-centric treasury company strategies.

 

One such group is Satsuma Technologies, a UK-listed company specializing in AI infrastructure and subnet development for decentralized applications within the Bittensor network. The company rebranded earlier this month from TAO Alpha PLC, a name linked to the smallest Bitcoin unit, satoshi. It also initiated a Bitcoin treasury strategy by acquiring an initial 28.56 BTC, bolstered by a £100 million (approx. $135 million) convertible note round to fund what will become one of the largest single Bitcoin treasury acquisitions by a British firm.

 

This is notable for several reasons. It quickly positions Satsuma as one of the largest UK crypto-treasury firms and potentially, at least for the moment, within the top 25 globally. Yet the company’s core business remains focused on infrastructure and AI agents for the TAO-native Bittensor network, running validator nodes and maintaining a subnet marketplace that, among other things, pairs alpha tokens with TAO in liquidity pools. The choice to accumulate BTC as its treasury asset is therefore an intriguing one, with proceeds from its cash-flowing core business deployed away from TAO and into Bitcoin instead. Does this suggest potential for integration between the Bitcoin and TAO communities? Or is it merely a bet that Bitcoin’s long-term upside is more attractive? Time will tell.