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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 June 3 – June 9

Eric F. Risley
June 9, 2024
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It was a strong week in crypto M&A with two large transactions announced and the continued jostling in the hostile acquisition drama playing out between Riot and Bitfarms.

 

Bitdeer, a publicly traded Bitcoin mining business founded by Bitmain co-founder Jihan Wu, has now gone full circle to return to ASIC design and mining hardware.  This was first announced in March 2024 with the introduction of their Sealminer mining machine and further strengthened with this week’s acquisition of Desiweminer, an ASIC design company, for $140M in equity consideration, a portion vesting over five to seven years.  This brings up the age-old question – which is the better business model, mining or selling the “picks and shovels”.

 

Robinhood is one of the more crypto forward leaning traditional equity brokers.  They introduced crypto investing in May 2019 and in the past quarter crypto transaction comprised 20% of total revenue in Q1 2024.  This week they announced the acquisition of Bitstamp for $200M.  Architect Partners has published a full assessment of the transaction in our M&A Alert but a few observations include:

 

  • Overall, this is a very positive signal for both the M&A market and for crypto as an industry.

 

  • A traditional equity broker further leaning in and making a significant investment to build their capabilities is a hole in the dike that will expand, albeit likely slowly at first, then quickly.

 

  • Robinhood is a relative “renegade” vs most traditional financial institutions so it’s not surprising they moved early, most other large financial institutions are likely to continue to remain cautious until clear regulatory frameworks are in-place or visible.

 

  • From a valuation perspective, we estimate it was approximately 8x last twelve months’ revenue.  That compares to Robinhood’s multiple of 7.4x, Galaxy’s at 6.9x, Bakkt at 4.6x and Coinbase at 14.7x. 

 

  • Closing will take some time due to regulatory approval requirements.  This will be interesting to watch given how muddled the regulatory frameworks remain in many countries and regions.  Robinhood explicitly set expectations for 6-12 months from today, an unusually long time frame.