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Franklin Templeton completes 250 Digital acquisition, launches dedicated crypto unit

Source Cryptopolitan

Franklin Templeton has now finalized its purchase of crypto investment firm 250 Digital today, effectively creating a standalone crypto division called Franklin Crypto that will offer actively managed digital asset strategies to pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and other large financial allocators.

The transaction, previously announced in April 2026, will bring 250 Digital’s full investment team along, in addition to the liquid cryptocurrency strategies the group ran while operating under CoinFund, according to Franklin Templeton. The investment firm has said it will deploy capital into those strategies via the new unit.

New division Franklin crypto

Christopher Perkins, co-founder of 250 Digital, will take the top role as head of the new division. Seth Ginns, who previously served as 250 Digital’s chief investment officer, will keep this title in Franklin Crypto. Both of these head figures spent years at CoinFund before liquid strategies arm was spun into 250 Digital in January 2026.

Tony Pecore, a veteran of Franklin Templeton’s existing digital assets group, will co-manage the unit. The division will report to Sandy Kaul, Franklin Templeton’s head of innovation.

CEO Jenny Johnson has explained that the deal will help to fill a gap in the firm’s crypto capabilities. “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,” Johnson said.

Franklin Templeton’s crypto strategy

Franklin Templeton manages roughly $1.78 trillion in assets across more than 35 countries. The firm has been building digital asset infrastructure since 2018, although most of this infrastructure was for tokenization and passive products and not active crypto portfolio management.

In February, the company struck a deal with Binance to allow its institutional clients to use tokenized money market fund shares as trading collateral. A March partnership with Ondo Finance also put tokenized ETFs on blockchain networks.

The 250 Digital acquisition, however, adds a different capability, where a team actively trades liquid crypto markets instead of working with passive fund structures.

Data from RWA.xyz shows how quickly Franklin Templeton’s tokenized asset base has grown. The company’s tokenized holdings rose from about $768 million in June 2025 to more than $2.5 billion a year later. The general market for on-chain RWAs has climbed from about $11.8 billion to $32.2 billion over the same period.

One unusual detail: Franklin Templeton used BENJI tokens in the acquisition process. BENJI tokens are a representation of shares related to the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund, a regulated money market product recorded on a public blockchain. This makes this purchase one of the first major financial-services acquisitions settled partly with tokenized fund shares and not only with cash or traditional securities.

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