Brisbane-based cryptocurrency exchange Swyftx is acquiring boutique digital assets brokerage Caleb & Brown in a deal that given them access to the wealthiest crypto investors in the US.
The terms were not disclosed, although Swyftx hailed it as “the largest crypto acquisition in ANZ history ” in a media announcement, but Decrypt reports a source saying the acquisition was worth more than $100 million.
Caleb & Brown is focussed on providing a one-to-one brokerage service to high net work private investors in the United States. It currently operates across the US, with a head office in Melbourne.
It provides crypto brokerage, asset management and research services to thousands of private clients in the US, and Australia, with more than A$2 billion of digital assets under custody. It was founded by Rupert Hackett and Dr Prash Puspanathan in 2016, and employs 64 people in Australia and the US.
The US currently accounts for around a quarter of all global trade volumes in cryptocurrency.
Swyftx launched in 2018 and in the last three years has doubled it customer based to more than 1.2 million customers across its group. It flirted briefly with a merger with Superhero in 2022, which ended six months later with a management buyout from Superhero.
The new M&A deal comes three months after Swyftx announced plans to buy New Zealand’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Easy Crypto,
CEO Jason Titman said: Caleb & Brown has quietly established one of the world’s most impressive brokerage offerings in the world and they see enormous growth potential in what he described as as “an underserved market”.
“Swyftx has the resources to build on Caleb & Brown’s competitive advantages and peel-off high net worth clients from the largest exchanges,” he said.
“There are polished and well-respected platforms operating in the US but a lot of the new breed of wealthy investors want a service that is ultra client-centric, with round-the-clock access to broker expertise. It is the kind of relationship management they get in traditional finance.”
Caleb & Brown CEO Jackson Zeng said: “This deal is a testament to the strength of our brokerage and its differentiated offering. Swyftx has the resources to help us scale faster, diversify our product offering and expand our geographic reach.”
The acquisition gives Swyftx the largest geographic reach of any Australian exchange, with access to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States.
The Swyftx group will have nearly 300 employees following the deal.
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