Franklin Templeton Goes Full Crypto, Acquires 250 Digital in On-Chain Deal

Global asset manager Franklin Templeton is getting serious about crypto—or at least that's what their latest power move suggests. The firm announced Wednesday it is forming Franklin Crypto following its acquisition of 250 Digital, a crypto investment firm and spinoff from CoinFund. Because apparently, 2025 is the year when TradFi stops dipping its toes in and goes straight to doing a cannonball into the pool.

The acquisition, expected to close during Q2, brings the entire 250 Digital team and all its crypto strategies to Franklin Templeton. The firm will invest in those strategies as part of the deal. Think of it as the ultimate HODL of talent acquisition—except the portfolio managers come with the office snacks included.

"Crypto's institutional moment has arrived, and Franklin Crypto will help our global clients navigate this complex and rapidly evolving asset class by delivering the expertise, knowledge and digital asset products that meet their sophisticated investment needs," Head of Franklin Crypto Christopher Perkins said in a statement. Yes, Chris, the institutional moment arrived right on schedule, somewhere between your third coffee and the last bull run's ATH.

Perkins will join the firm and serve as division leader of Franklin Crypto. He previously led 250 Digital alongside Seth Ginns, who will come on board as Chief Investment Officer of Franklin Crypto. Two degens from the 250 Digital trenches, now armed with the full firepower of a $1.4 trillion asset manager. The meme lords in the comments are going to have a field day.

"This is an exciting addition for Franklin Templeton, and we're pleased to welcome Chris, Seth and the 250 Digital team to our firm," Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson said in a statement. "Together, their investment talent and differentiated strategies strengthen our capabilities in digital assets and position us among a small group of global asset managers with a dedicated, institutional-grade crypto investment management team, enhancing our ability to serve clients worldwide." Not to be outmaneuvered by BlackRock's BUIDL fund, Jenny. The race to the bottom of TradFi's crypto pivot is officially on.

Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. However, the firm noted that BENJI tokens—those representing its on-chain money market fund—will be used as payment considerations, "marking an important and innovative step toward conducting M&A transactions on chain." That's right, forget wire transfers and paper contracts—future acquisitions might just require a quick wallet connect and a gas fee. Lawyers everywhere are suddenly very interested in learning what a mempool is.

Franklin Templeton first debuted the tokenized fund in 2021, before expanding its access to Ethereum in 2024. Since then, it has also expanded to other popular blockchain networks like Solana, and Ethereum scaling networks like Base and Arbitrum. If your token isn't on at least three chains these days, are you even a serious institutional product? The multi-chain approach is basically the new "we're serious about this" flex.

Its latest crypto initiative