Old Money Meets New Chain: Franklin Templeton Gobbles Up 250 Digital Because Obviously

Franklin Templeton is acquiring 250 Digital, a spinoff from crypto investment firm CoinFund, to expand its digital assets offerings, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The entity will be led by Seth Ginns and Chris Perkins, who previously served as CoinFund's managing partner and president and managing partner and head of liquid investments, respectively. In other words, the 250th digital asset firm in existence—or perhaps just a really aggressive round number—now has the honor of being absorbed by a 78-year-old financial institution that finally figured out that Bitcoin isn't just a fancy PDF.

250 Digital was formally established in January when CoinFund announced the spinoff, placing Perkins and Ginns at the helm. Both executives spent years at CoinFund building relationships across decentralized finance protocols, layer-one blockchain projects, and early-stage token networks. Think of them as the diplomats who spent a decade schmoozing at the crypto equivalent of Davos, except the afterparties were better and the dress code involved hoodies instead of suits.

For over a decade, CoinFund has supported founders in creating blockchain infrastructure and innovative products. The firm's portfolio includes standout names such as Ondo Finance, Ether.fi, Flare, Flying Tulip, and World, among others. That's quite the resume—it's basically a greatest hits album of projects that either made it or are still trying to convince you they will. Flying Tulip sounds like something you'd name a DeFi protocol after three espressos, and yet here we are.

Franklin Templeton has been steadily advancing into crypto and tokenization. Since forming its digital assets team in 2018, the firm has rolled out regulated investment options for crypto investors. That's right, 2018—the year your uncle finally stopped asking what Bitcoin was and started asking how to buy some. Franklin saw the writing on the wall (or perhaps on the blockchain) and decided to get ahead of the inevitable.

In 2024