Franklin Templeton, the global investment giant with $1.78 trillion in assets under management, has officially launched a new digital assets division called Franklin Crypto after completing its acquisition of crypto-focused firm 250 Digital on Monday. The move marks a significant step for the New York-based firm, which is no longer merely exploring crypto but now actively running institutional-grade strategies built on several major blockchain networks.
The newly formed division, led by industry veteran Christopher Perkins as Head of Franklin Crypto and Seth Ginns as Chief Investment Officer, is specifically designed to serve sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and other large institutional clients. The duo will work alongside Tony Pecore of Franklin Templeton Digital Assets. The acquisition of 250 Digital, which spun out of CoinFund in January, was partially financed using the firm’s own BENJI tokens—the on-chain version of its Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund.
Notably, Franklin Templeton is committing its own capital into liquid cryptocurrency strategies, with the tech stack heavily featuring the XRP Ledger (XRP), Stellar (XLM), Polygon (MATIC), and Aptos (APT). This direct involvement is expected to drive demand and liquidity for these networks. The asset manager has been increasingly active in crypto, having recently filed for two novel Bitcoin-linked ETFs and securing the first spot XRP ETF last year; its XRP ETF (ticker XRPZ) attracted the highest net inflows in its category during the June 14–18 trading week, pulling in $6.7 million.
