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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 March 31 – April 06

Todd White
April 09, 2025
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March 31 – April 06 (Published April 9th)

PERSPECTIVES by Todd White

 

24 Crypto Private Financings Raised: $250.0M

Rolling 3-Month-Average: $437.4M

Rolling 52-Week Average: $246.5M

 

“Sustainable finance” has been a cornerstone of the environmentalist lexicon for at least a few decades. What it actually means, and whether it truly exists, may be open for debate. But using investment capital to incentivize conservation rather than the extraction and exploitation of natural resources seems like a good fit. For example, this might be done by issuing long-dated carbon credits tied to a forest’s ability to capture and sequester carbon, then using the proceeds to alleviate pressure to clearcut and develop the land. Numerous examples of such sustainable forestry projects exist across the world, particularly in the tropics. Still, there are clear challenges—not least the need to monitor forest growth and to quantify the “ecosystem services” that underpin these credits.

 

As an example, consider the now-infamous South Pole company, which fell from grace amid alleged fraud and controversy in 2023. The problem? Well, there were many, but a major one was the fact that apparently no one checked to ensure the “conserved” forests weren’t actually being chopped down for development. Oops…

 

The good news is that this type of moral hazard can now be addressed technologically, with the blockchain’s immutable and auditable records at the core. Benefits include the usual suspects for digitized financial products: increased transparency and accountability, the creation of tokenized financial incentives, automated regulatory and financial reporting, and potentially broader investor access through fractional ownership.

 

There are also numerous teams working on blockchain-enabled climate solutions. Specifically for carbon credits, teams like Triangle Digital and KlimaDAO have built infrastructure to mint and manage tokenized credits directly linked to underlying data for verification, with Triangle pioneering the first fully regulated platform to do so. Similar projects are dedicated to renewable energy and decentralized grids, supply chain and waste management, conservation and biodiversity funding, and more. The potential impact of these projects represents an exciting extension of crypto’s core technology.

 

O.N.E. Amazon, a project focused on large-scale ecosystem preservation in the Amazonian rainforest, achieved a significant milestone last week by securing a $100 million commitment from the Global Edge Worldwide fund, with Gorilla Technology Group as a minority investor in the round. Proceeds will be used to deploy supporting technology and issue blockchain-based securities to fund long-term preservation. Their “Internet of Forests (IoF™)” initiative—developed with MIT Media Lab and powered by Gorilla’s technology—uses satellite imagery, ground sensors, bio-sensing, and LiDAR to monitor deforestation, biodiversity, and environmental stressors in real time. The goal is to connect every hectare of the rainforest digitally, enabling data-driven conservation strategies and sustainable economic activities such as precision agriculture and eco-tourism.

 

While blockchain and crypto communities have been criticized for excessive energy use, they also offer much-needed climate and ecological solutions that may help belay concern over blockchain’s  appetite for electricity. We are intrigued by these initiatives and look forward to working with—and reporting on—them as the sector matures.

 

Contact ryan@architectpartners.com to schedule a meeting.