Franklin Templeton has completed its acquisition of 250 Digital, a crypto investment firm spun out of CoinFund earlier this year, and used the deal to launch a new institutional business line called Franklin Crypto. The move, first announced in April, gives the $1.5 trillion asset manager a dedicated team and strategy for digital assets — and it settled part of the purchase using BENJI tokens, an on-chain representation of its own government money market fund. That makes this one of the first major M&A transactions in financial services to close with tokenized fund shares instead of cash or conventional securities.
Who’s running the new shop
Christopher Perkins, who led 250 Digital, will head Franklin Crypto. Seth Ginns, the firm’s chief investment officer, keeps that title in the new division. The team built around liquid crypto strategies and institutional-grade portfolio construction at 250 Digital — carved out of CoinFund Management at the start of 2026 — will now operate under Franklin Templeton’s umbrella. The division has its own leadership and investment philosophy, a signal that the parent company sees digital assets as a permanent fixture, not a side experiment.
What Franklin Crypto will actually do
Franklin Crypto targets pensions, sovereign wealth funds, and large asset allocators looking for regulated exposure to digital assets. The strategy spans liquid token markets, venture investments, and structured products tied to blockchain infrastructure. That’s a broad remit, but it reflects the kind of diversified approach big institutions expect when they allocate to crypto — not just buying Bitcoin, but accessing the full stack of blockchain-based finance.
Why the BENJI token matters
BENJI tokens give holders exposure to a regulated U.S. money market fund recorded on a public blockchain. Using them as acquisition consideration is a practical demonstration of what Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson has been arguing: that blockchains put pressure on Wall Street’s fee structures. The firm already filed for a Bitcoin ETF years before institutional demand caught up and launched ETFs that reinvest stock dividends into Bitcoin. This deal takes the thesis one step further — using a tokenized fund as real M&A currency.
What’s next
Franklin Crypto is live now, but the real test will be whether pensions and sovereign funds actually move meaningful capital into the division’s products. Franklin Templeton has the regulatory credibility and balance-sheet size to open doors. The question is whether the crypto side can deliver returns and liquidity that match what those allocators expect from traditional fixed income and equity exposure. No deadline has been set for first client mandates, but the team is already in the field.
