Franklin Templeton, a major traditional investment firm, has agreed to acquire 250 Digital, a crypto-focused company spun off from venture firm CoinFund, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
With this deal, Franklin Templeton is expanding its digital asset business. The company is mainly targeting large institutional clients, including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and similar investors.
After the deal closes, the business will operate under the name Franklin Crypto. However, companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.
250 Digital was created as a spinoff from CoinFund in January 2026. The firm focuses on crypto investment strategies, especially for institutional investors like pension funds and sovereign wealth funds.
After Franklin Templeton acquires 250 Digital, Christopher Perkins will lead the business, and Seth Ginns will serve as chief investment officer. Both previously held senior roles at CoinFund and have strong experience in crypto markets.
They will work alongside Tony Pecore, a veteran from Franklin Templeton Digital Assets, in the new Franklin Crypto unit. The setup brings together crypto-native experience and Franklin Templeton’s global reach to grow its institutional business.
Franklin Templeton sees the acquisition as a way to strengthen its crypto business for institutional clients. Sandy Kaul, the firm’s head of innovation, said Franklin Crypto will create investment strategies for large, regulated investors.
“This big selloff that we had in the crypto markets is creating a very unique opportunity that really made us all decide that this is the right time to pull the trigger,” Kaul told WSJ.
“Because I think that there’s going to be a lot of interest in creating more of a stable home for many of these top crypto trading talents,” he added.
How the two teams will work together
Franklin Templeton’s deal for 250 Digital shows the firm still sees a bigger future for crypto in professional portfolios.
250 Digital brings direct experience in token markets and decentralized systems. On the other hand, Franklin Templeton brings scale, compliance expertise, and strong relationships with regulated investors.
Together, they plan to build crypto products for institutions. And they could go beyond simple BTC and ETH ETFs and may include active, yield-focused, or risk-managed strategies.
The transaction is expected to be completed in second quarter of the year. But, it depends on final agreements, client approvals, and other standard closing conditions.
According to the report, a portion of the payment will be made using BENJI tokens. This makes the deal an important step toward using blockchain technology in merger and acquisition transactions.
BENJI is linked to the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund, also known as FOBXX. Franklin Templeton launched the fund in 2021.
“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,” said Perkins.
Franklin Templeton expands its crypto and tokenization business
Asset manager Franklin Templeton entered the sector in 2018. Since then, it has built a digital assets team of more than 50 people. Franklin Templeton also has a much bigger platform than most crypto-native firms.
Franklin Templeton launched BTC and ETH ETFs in the United States a year ago. These products made it easier and cheaper for everyday investors to invest in the two largest cryptocurrencies.
The company also partnered with Binance, a major crypto exchange. Through this partnership, institutional investors can use Franklin Templeton’s tokenized money market fund as collateral for trading.
In addition, Franklin Templeton worked with Ondo Finance. Because of this, investors can now hold tokenized versions of Franklin ETFs directly in their crypto wallets.
Overall, these developments show that Franklin Templeton is slowly connecting traditional finance with blockchain technology and digital assets. As of 28 February, the company had $1.74 trillion in assets under management. This gives it a strong room to grow its crypto offerings.
The acquisition comes at a difficult time for the crypto market. Bitcoin jumped above $126,000 last year, but prices have since fallen by about 45 percent. At the time of reporting, it was trading at $68,487, according to the CoinMarketCap.
Even so, large financial firms are still expanding their crypto operations. They are doing this because they see long-term demand from institutions that want regulated access to digital assets.