Brisbane-based Swyftx has exited its CEO and government chair Jason Titman after lower than two years within the position, and can be shedding 15% of the cryptocurrency change’s headcount.
Cofounder Alex Harper and chief monetary officer Andrea Yuen, who took on the position in early 2025, have been appointed performing co-CEOs.
Director Cathryn Lyall, who has stepped in as performing chair stated the duo are “uniquely positioned” to steer the corporate.
“They’ve a formidable workforce behind them and I’m assured that underneath their mixed management Swyftx will proceed to thrive,” she stated.
An organization spokesperson stated that after the enterprise “elevated in measurement and complexity” over the previous 12 months following the $33 million acquisition of New Zealand change Simple Crypto in March 2025, and US-focused digital assets brokerage Caleb & Brown, for more than $100 million six months in the past, “we would have liked to restructure the enterprise to take away duplication, simplify our operations and seize efficiencies”.
The Caleb and Brown merger gave the enterprise a headcount of 300.
The variety of job losses have but to be finalised, however Startup Every day understands that discussions on the restructure started final month and have but to be finalised, though it’s probably that greater than 35 roles will go.
“The restructure will enable us to prioritise funding in innovation,” the spokesperson stated.
“Sadly, the proposals have resulted in plenty of roles being put liable to redundancy as we carry our groups collectively. Our main concern at this second is for impacted workforce members and we’re providing them our full help.”
Swyftx was based in 2018 by Harper and good friend Angus Goldman. The 31-year-old mates since college are each administrators and the biggest shareholders of a enterprise with workforce members in Australia, NZ and the US.
The change flirted briefly with Superhero in 2022 about merging to create a fintech unicorn, however that plan ended six months later with a administration buyout from Superhero.
Regulation arrives
The most recent modifications come at a torrid time for cryptocurrency, after many hoped a crypto-friendly US president would herald a brand new golden age.
As an alternative, since an all-time excessive above US$122,000 in October 2025, bitcoin’s worth almost halved by late February to US$63k and it stays risky. Whereas climbing above $71k, six months on, it’s nonetheless down 5% on 12 months in the past.
Swyftx has greater than 1.3 million clients globally, with month-to-month commerce topping A$1 billion. The corporate made a $50 million revenue final monetary 12 months.
In the meantime, final week, the Australian authorities’s Digital Belongings Framework Invoice, which requires crypto exchanges and custody suppliers to acquire an Australian Monetary Providers Licences (AFSL) from the company regulator, ASIC, grew to become regulation. There’s a six-month transition interval, which suggests exchanges will should be registered with an AFSL by round October 2026, or they’ll be working illegally.
There’s an estimated 400 crypto platforms in Australia, however solely round 10% have ASIC registration and SwyftX will not be one in every of them, so Harper and his workforce have loads of work to do within the coming months.
“The following stage of the Swyftx journey is one in every of its most essential. The precedence proper now could be to verify we’re able to develop in a regulated setting,” Harper stated.
“The potential is critical. We count on new crypto legal guidelines to considerably enhance investor adoption of digital property. Not simply in Australia but additionally within the US, New Zealand and different markets the place we now have clients.”
