Franklin Templeton completed its acquisition of 250 Digital on Monday and immediately launched Franklin Crypto, a new active digital asset management division. The move brings the entire 250 Digital investment team and all liquid cryptocurrency strategies that were managed under CoinFund in-house. The $1.78 trillion asset manager had announced the deal on April 1 and said it would close within the second quarter — it did, on the last full business day of the period.
Who runs it
Christopher Perkins is Head of Franklin Crypto. Seth Ginns is Chief Investment Officer. They work alongside veteran Tony Pecore. The division reports to Sandy Kaul, who leads innovation at Franklin Templeton. CEO Jenny Johnson welcomed the new team, saying the acquisition strengthens the firm’s capabilities in digital assets. The 250 Digital crew is now fully inside Franklin Templeton, not operating as a separate entity.
What they’ll do
Franklin Crypto targets institutional allocators — pensions, sovereign wealth funds, endowments. The pitch is active management of cryptocurrency strategies, not passive index tracking. That’s a different lane from most traditional asset managers dipping into crypto, who tend to offer spot exposure or simple futures products. Franklin is leaning on the 250 Digital team’s track record of picking digital assets and timing entries and exits.
Not their first blockchain step
Franklin Templeton has been poking at blockchain infrastructure since 2018. It launched one of the first U.S. registered funds to use public blockchains for transactions and share ownership — a money market fund that records share transfers on-chain. The 250 Digital acquisition is a much bigger bet: an entire active crypto shop with a real P&L history. Monday’s close means the integration work now starts in earnest.
The immediate next step
With the team and strategies transferred, the focus turns to raising capital from the institutional clients Franklin already serves. The firm hasn’t disclosed any target AUM for Franklin Crypto or a timeline for its first active fund launches under the new banner. But the division is live, the team is in place, and the pension-fund roadshow is likely getting scheduled this week.
