Franklin Templeton, one of the leading names in traditional finance, has unveiled a dedicated crypto assets division following the completion of its acquisition of 250 Digital. The New York-based investment giant announced that its new unit, named Franklin Crypto, will focus on serving sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and other institutional investors seeking exposure to digital assets.
Integration of 250 Digital kickstarts new era
With $1.78 trillion in assets under management, Franklin Templeton finalized the acquisition of 250 Digital after reaching an agreement in April. 250 Digital, originally spun off from CoinFund earlier this year, had established itself as a specialized crypto investment operation. This move signals Franklin Templeton’s commitment to formalizing its presence in the digital assets landscape and expanding its capabilities within the sector.
Rather than remaining on the sidelines with limited experimental initiatives, Franklin Templeton is now positioning itself as a full-fledged player in the crypto space. According to their statement, the firm is actively pursuing crypto strategies based on technologies such as XRP Ledger, Stellar, Polygon, and Aptos.
Glossary: XRP Ledger is known as a blockchain network primarily focused on payments and asset transfers. Stellar similarly centers on cross-border transactions, whereas Polygon and Aptos are widely used networks for broader application development.
Industry veterans lead the new unit
The newly formed Franklin Crypto division will be led by Christopher Perkins, a veteran with extensive experience in the crypto industry. On the investment side, Seth Ginns will take on the role of Chief Investment Officer. Both will work closely with Tony Pecore from the Franklin Templeton Digital Assets team to steer the new organization.
Franklin Templeton is allocating its own capital to the liquid cryptocurrency strategies previously managed by CoinFund, highlighting the firm’s increasingly institutional approach to digital assets.
An important detail in the company’s statement concerns the financing of the acquisition, with a portion carried out using BENJI tokens. BENJI represents the on-chain version of the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund.
ETF activity remains strong
Franklin Templeton has been especially active in the crypto field in recent years. Earlier this week, the firm filed applications for two new Bitcoin-linked exchange-traded funds. The planned products—Franklin US Equity Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF and Franklin US Innovation Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF—aim to offer investors a mix of 95% U.S. equities and 5% Bitcoin.
Franklin Templeton also drew attention last year with the launch of its XRP ETF. During the trading week from June 14 to June 18, the firm’s spot XRP ETF, XRPZ, recorded the largest net inflow in its category, attracting $6.7 million of net investments over five days.
Based in the United States, Franklin Templeton is recognized as a longstanding and reputable financial institution in asset management. Its recent steps underscore a strategy to broaden the visibility and reach of its digital asset products and investment solutions.
