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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

Weeks of November 13 – November 26

Elliot Chun
November 29, 2023
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22 Crypto Private Financings Raised ~$130M (Week of November 20)

29 Crypto Private Financings Raised ~$465M  (Week of November 13)

Rolling 3-Month-Average: $156M

Rolling 52-Week Average: $176M

 

Is this a signal that the crypto private financing market is turning the corner?

 

$465M is the most amount of weekly capital raised since Dec 12, 2022.

 

The three largest raises came from well-known, “OG” companies who learned from this last market cycle and are evolving their businesses into this next phase.

 

Blockchain.com, founded in 2011, is one of the originals and is refocusing on their core retail exchange business. As a sign of this refocus, Blockchain.com just announced a partnership with SoFi to transition SoFi’s crypto customers to Blockchain.com.

 

Fnality, founded in 2015 as Utility Settlement Coin, is one of the surviving consortiums and gearing up for its Sterling Fnality Payment System launch, which seeks to provide a global liquidity management network for wholesale payments and tokenized RWA. The participants in this network are impressive, featuring Goldman, BNP, DTCC, Euroclear and WisdomTree as investors, joining Santander, BNY, Barclays, CIBC, Commerzbank, ING, Lloyds, Nasdaq, State Street, SMBC, and UBS.

 

OSL, founded in 2018, is one of the two licensed exchanges in Hong Kong and is focusing its growth efforts in the region following investment from BGX, which is connected to Foresight Ventures that recently acquired The Block.

 

As our industry transitions from what I call The Great Purge to this next to-be-named phase, we expect many of the surviving “OG” companies to raise significant rounds and refocus their efforts on what got them to this point, secure their financial health by achieving sustainable profitability, and selectively assess expansion opportunities.