- Franklin Templeton is acquiring 250 Digital, a CoinFund spinoff, to form a new standalone division called Franklin Crypto.
- The division will be led by former CoinFund executives Christopher Perkins and Seth Ginns alongside Franklin Templeton veteran Tony Pecore.
- Part of the acquisition will be paid using BENJI tokens from Franklin Templeton’s $732 million on-chain U.S. Government Money Fund.
- The new unit targets pensions, sovereign wealth funds, and institutional investors seeking regulated crypto exposure through active strategies.
Published: April 1, 2026 12:00 UTC
Franklin Templeton, one of the world’s largest asset managers with $1.6 trillion under management, announced on April 1 that it will acquire 250 Digital and use the deal to launch a dedicated cryptocurrency business called Franklin Crypto. The new division consolidates active crypto trading strategies, spot ETFs, index products, and tokenized funds under one roof. A tokenized asset, the BENJI token, is a share of Franklin Templeton’s on-chain U.S. Government Money Fund, and it will be used as partial payment for the deal.
What the deal looks like
250 Digital is a spinoff from CoinFund, the crypto venture and liquid strategies firm. CoinFund’s former co-heads Christopher Perkins and Seth Ginns built the liquid trading arm before spinning it out as an independent entity. Under the acquisition, Perkins will lead Franklin Crypto as its head, while Ginns will serve as chief investment officer. Tony Pecore, a longtime member of Franklin Templeton’s existing digital assets team, rounds out the leadership.
Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026. What stands out is the payment structure: Franklin Templeton will settle part of the purchase using BENJI tokens tied to its Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX). That fund currently holds roughly $732 million in assets and is the first U.S.-registered mutual fund to use a public blockchain as its official system of record for processing transactions and recording share ownership.
Using a tokenized money market fund to pay for an acquisition is an unusual step. It signals that Franklin Templeton is not just investing in crypto markets but actively using blockchain infrastructure for corporate transactions.
Why this matters for institutional crypto
Franklin Templeton already operates one of the largest institutional crypto operations among traditional asset managers. Its digital assets team exceeds 50 people and manages a lineup that includes a Bitcoin ETF, an Ethereum ETF, a Solana ETF, a multi-asset Crypto Index ETF, and tokenized ETF products that allow 24/7 wallet-based trading.
The Franklin Crypto division fills a gap in that lineup: active management. Spot ETFs and index products give clients passive exposure to crypto markets. Active strategies, the kind 250 Digital specializes in, aim to generate alpha through trading and position management across liquid crypto assets. That combination of passive, index, and active products mirrors how traditional asset management firms structure their equity and fixed income businesses.
The target clients are pensions, sovereign wealth funds, and other large institutional allocators. These investors have spent the past two years getting comfortable with Bitcoin and Ethereum through regulated ETFs. The next step, for many, is diversifying into actively managed crypto strategies run by established firms with compliance infrastructure.
The broader Wall Street trend
Franklin Templeton’s move fits a pattern that accelerated through 2025 and into 2026. BlackRock, Fidelity, and Goldman Sachs have all expanded their digital asset operations. Tokenized finance has moved from experimental to operational, with several major banks now building deposit and settlement rails on blockchain networks.
The Q1 2026 fundraising data reflects this shift. According to industry reports, $9.27 billion was raised across 255 crypto deals in the first quarter, with traditional financial institutions driving a growing share of the capital. Mastercard’s $1.8 billion acquisition of payments firm BVNK marked the largest crypto acquisition on record.
For Franklin Templeton specifically, the BENJI token experiment adds another dimension. If a $1.6 trillion asset manager can use tokenized fund shares to settle an M&A deal, it validates the practical utility of tokenization beyond yield products and into corporate finance. That is a use case the industry has discussed for years but rarely executed at this scale.
What comes next
The deal’s closing in Q2 2026 will be the first test. Integration between 250 Digital’s crypto-native trading infrastructure and Franklin Templeton’s institutional distribution network will determine whether the combination delivers on its promise. The firm’s existing Benji platform already supports multiple blockchains including Ethereum, Solana, Stellar, Polygon, Arbitrum, Avalanche, and Aptos, giving Franklin Crypto a wide technical foundation to build on.
Regulatory clarity in the U.S., including the SEC’s recent crypto token taxonomy and ongoing CLARITY Act discussions, has reduced the legal uncertainty that previously kept many institutional managers on the sidelines. Franklin Templeton’s bet is that the window for building a full-service institutional crypto platform is now open, and that being early with active strategies will be a competitive advantage.
FAQ
What is Franklin Crypto?
Franklin Crypto is a new standalone division within Franklin Templeton dedicated to cryptocurrency investment management. It combines active crypto trading strategies from the acquired firm 250 Digital with Franklin Templeton’s existing lineup of spot ETFs, index products, and tokenized funds to offer institutional clients a complete digital asset platform.
What are BENJI tokens?
BENJI tokens represent shares of the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX), a $732 million mutual fund that uses public blockchains as its official record-keeping system. Each BENJI token equals one fund share. The tokens accrue daily yield through newly minted tokens and are available on eight blockchains including Ethereum and Solana.
When will the Franklin Templeton and 250 Digital deal close?
The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026. Once completed, 250 Digital’s leadership team, including former CoinFund executives Christopher Perkins and Seth Ginns, will lead the new Franklin Crypto division targeting institutional investors such as pensions and sovereign wealth funds.
