Global asset management giant Franklin Templeton, with over $1.7 trillion in assets under management, has agreed to acquire 250 Digital, a crypto-focused spinoff from venture capital firm CoinFund. The deal, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, marks a significant expansion of the traditional finance firm's commitment to digital assets.
The newly acquired entity will be renamed Franklin Crypto and will focus on developing crypto investment strategies for institutional clients, including pensions and sovereign-wealth funds. The acquisition is led by veteran crypto investors Christopher Perkins and Seth Ginns, who previously headed 250 Digital after it spun off from CoinFund in January of this year.
Franklin Templeton's move into crypto dates back to 2018, and the firm has since built a digital assets team of approximately 50 specialists. The asset manager is already a significant player in the crypto ETF space, having launched the Franklin Bitcoin ETF (EZBC), which currently holds over $427 million in assets. The firm was also among the first U.S. issuers of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in January and July 2024, respectively, and offers a tokenized money market fund.
Sandy Kaul, Franklin Templeton's head of innovation, told The Wall Street Journal that the recent crypto market selloff created a "very unique opportunity" to acquire top talent. "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 stated. "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."
The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The move reflects a broader strategic shift among major legacy financial institutions seeking to integrate digital assets into their core offerings amid growing institutional client demand.
