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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

Insights

Week of June 3 – June 9

Glenn Gottlieb
June 13, 2024
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31 Crypto Private Financings Raised ~$284M 

Rolling 3-Month-Average: $268M

Rolling 52-Week Average: $198M

 

Blockchain scalability and interoperability are crucial development topics for blockchain solutions. Scalability is essential to ensure that blockchain networks can handle increasing transaction volumes and user adoption without compromising performance.  Scalability solutions aim to enhance the processing capacity of blockchain networks without sacrificing security or decentralization.

 

Interoperability is critical for enabling seamless communication and data exchange between different blockchain networks. This allows for the creation of more complex and versatile applications that can leverage the unique strengths of various blockchain ecosystems.

 

The successful implementation of scalability and interoperability solutions will be pivotal in unlocking the full potential of blockchain technology. These solutions can enhance the overall functionality, efficiency, and usability of blockchain applications. This, in turn, will facilitate broader adoption across various industries.

 

 Avail Raises $43M Series A

 

Avail is developing a strong solution for blockchain scalability and interoperability, and recently closed on a $43M Series A, bringing total funding to date to $75M.   Founders Fund, DragonFly Capital, CyberFund, SevenX, Figment, Nomad Capital, LocalGlobe, Altos Ventures, and many other VCs participated in the financing. 

 

Avail, a modular blockchain project spun off from Polygon, focuses on enhancing data availability and scalability for blockchain applications. It allows developers to build customizable and scalable applications by decoupling the data availability layer, making it easier to manage data and reduce costs. This approach enables developers to focus on execution and settlement, leading to faster, more efficient, and scalable applications.

 

Avail’s architecture is designed to be protocol-agnostic, open-source, and community-owned. It aims to unify Web3 by providing a comprehensive full-stack architecture comprising three solutions: Avail DA (data availability), Avail Nexus (a cross-chain coordination hub), and Fusion Security (a shared security layer protected by a basket of crypto-assets).  This integrated approach enables seamless interaction and security across different blockchain ecosystems.  Developers are free to choose whichever technologies they like, and can build custom blockchains for their specific use cases.

 

Avail has made significant progress since its spin-off positioning it as a key player in the blockchain scalability and interoperability space.  Recent announcements include:

 

  • In a recent incentivized testnet. Avail DA processed over 118 million transactions and facilitated more than 140GB of data submissions, which is very close to the total data submissions of all L2s in 2023

 

  • Announced a partnership with dWallet Network to introduce programmable native Bitcoin rollups and the launch of its data attestation bridge to Ethereum.