Franklin Templeton completed its acquisition of 250 Digital, a cryptocurrency investment firm that was spun off from CoinFund in January 2026, and used the closing to launch a new institutional business line called Franklin Crypto.
deal, First announced in AprilIt represents one of the most concrete moves by a major legacy asset manager to build a custom crypto operation from within.
250 Digital came into existence at the beginning of 2026 as an independent entity carved out of CoinFund’s management, bringing with it a team built on liquid cryptocurrency strategies and institutional-level portfolio construction.
Christopher Perkins, who leads the company, will now head Franklin Crypto. Seth Ginns, chief investment officer at 250 Digital, will bring that title to the new division. They both spent years at CoinFund before parting ways and have made deep roots in the world of institutional digital assets.
New Franklin cipher lonliness It targets pensions, sovereign wealth funds and large asset distributors who want exposure to digital assets through regulated structures. Its strategy spans liquid token markets, venture exposure, and structured products tied to blockchain infrastructure.
One of the most striking details of the deal is how it’s paid. Franklin Templeton used BENJI tokens – the on-chain representation of US government fund Franklin OnChain – as part of the acquisition.
This makes this deal among the first major M&A transactions in financial services to be settled using tokenized fund shares rather than cash or traditional securities.
BENJI tokens give holders exposure to a regulated US money market fund registered on the public blockchain. Franklin Templeton has spent years building that infrastructure, and using it as an M&A currency, suggesting that the company views its token pool as a live trading tool, not a proof of concept.
Franklin Templeton’s long bet on Bitcoin and digital assets
Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson He was direct On her view on blockchain’s threat to traditional finance – she argued that blockchain is putting pressure on Wall Street’s fee structures, not just its technology.
This situation runs through the company’s recent moves: Apply for a Bitcoin ETF Years before institutional demand caught up, ETFs were launched Reinvest dividends in BitcoinNow we are acquiring a dedicated cryptocurrency team to run a large-scale institutional operation.
The Digital 250 acquisition is the most structural move to date. Instead of wrapping crypto exposure inside an ETF or fund wrapper, Franklin Templeton is building a division with its own leadership, its own investment philosophy, and a mandate to go directly after the institutional market.
With over $1.5 trillion in assets under management, Franklin Templeton’s full commitment to a dedicated crypto module sends a signal to the rest of the asset management industry. The company does not treat digital assets as a side product.
It is a process of recruiting, acquiring and deploying capital as if cryptocurrencies became a permanent fixture in institutional portfolios.
