Franklin Templeton Acquires 250 Digital to Launch Franklin Crypto Institutional Unit

Franklin Templeton Expands Into Active Crypto With 250 Digital Acquisition

The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, was reported by The Wall Street Journal on April 1, 2026. Franklin Templeton, a San Mateo, California-based asset manager with more than $1.7 trillion in assets under management, expects to close the transaction in the coming months.

250 Digital was spun off from Coinfund in January 2026 as a standalone liquidity and trading strategies business. Christopher Perkins and Seth Ginns, both former Coinfund executives, led that spinoff and will continue in key roles under Franklin Crypto.

Coinfund used the split to refocus exclusively on seed- and growth-stage venture capital in Web3 projects. 250 Digital took with it the firm’s active trading expertise and liquidity management operations, capabilities that Franklin Templeton identified as essential for serving large institutional clients.

Franklin’s head of innovation, Sandy Kaul, said the recent crypto market selloff created a “unique opportunity” to bring in specialized trading talent at a moment when top professionals were looking for a more stable institutional home.

The acquisition adds active management capabilities to Franklin Templeton’s existing digital asset lineup, which includes a spot bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF) called EZBC, an ethereum ETF, and FOBXX — a tokenized on-chain U.S. government money market fund. The firm also announced a partnership with Ondo Finance in March 2025 to offer tokenized versions of five traditional ETFs for around-the-clock trading via crypto wallets.

Franklin Templeton began building its digital assets team in 2018. That group now includes more than 50 people across research, data science, and blockchain operations, including node validators and tokenomics analysts.

Under the Franklin Crypto structure, strategies are expected to include liquid token exposure, venture allocation, structured products, and other active crypto approaches — a direct complement to the passive and tokenized products already on offer.

The deal reflects a broader pattern taking shape across traditional finance in 2025 and 2026. Established asset managers including Blackrock and Fidelity have moved to acquire or partner with crypto-native firms rather than build those capabilities internally. The timing of the Franklin-250 Digital deal suggests the recent market correction created favorable conditions for that type of consolidation.

Pensions, sovereign-wealth funds, and other large institutions have shown measured but growing interest in digital asset exposure. Franklin Crypto is designed to serve that demand through a regulated, established manager, one that can offer both the infrastructure and the compliance framework those investors require.

Franklin Templeton has also been preparing funds for stablecoin reserve use cases and on-chain distribution, signaling that its digital asset ambitions extend beyond ETF products into the infrastructure of crypto markets themselves.

No financial terms for the 250 Digital acquisition were released. Closing is expected later in 2026. The deal positions Franklin Templeton as one of the few traditional asset managers offering a full-spectrum digital asset platform, covering passive index exposure, tokenized securities, and now active crypto strategies managed by crypto-native professionals.

FAQ 🔎

• What is Franklin Crypto? Franklin Crypto is a new institutional crypto investment arm being launched by Franklin Templeton following its acquisition of 250 Digital, a trading firm spun off from Coinfund.
• Who leads 250 Digital? Christopher Perkins and Seth Ginns, former Coinfund executives who built its liquidity and trading business, will continue in key roles under Franklin Crypto.
• What digital asset products does Franklin Templeton already offer? Franklin Templeton currently offers a spot Bitcoin ETF, an Ethereum ETF, a tokenized U.S. government money market fund (FOBXX), and tokenized ETFs through a partnership with Ondo Finance.
• Why did Franklin Templeton acquire 250 Digital now? Franklin Templeton cited the recent crypto market selloff as an opportunity to recruit specialized trading talent and expand its institutional crypto offerings at favorable conditions.