Franklin Templeton has ended up acquiring 250 Digital, a cryptocurrency company that exited CoinFund in January 2026, and used the closing to launch a new business line called Franklin Crypto.
agreement, was first announced in AprilIt is one of the most flexible ways for a financial manager to create a dedicated crypto service from within.
250 Digital came into being in early 2026 as a standalone entity created from CoinFund Management, bringing together a team built around liquid crypto solutions and institutional infrastructure.
Christopher Perkins, who used to lead the company, will now lead Franklin Crypto. Seth Ginns, chief financial officer of 250 Digital, will carry the title in the new division. Both of them spent many years at CoinFund before it started and brought deep roots in the world.
The new Franklin Crypto unit manages pensions, sovereign wealth funds, and large asset class distributors seeking exposure to digital assets through managed arrangements. His approach focuses on liquid markets, corporate transparency, and blockchain-based products.
One of the most interesting aspects of the business is how it was paid. Franklin Templeton used BENJI tokens – the on-chain representation of the Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund – as part of the purchase consideration.
This makes the deal one of the first major M&A transactions in the financial sector to be settled using share tokens instead of cash or common securities.
BENJI tokens give owners access to a US money market fund listed on a public blockchain. Franklin Templeton spent years building infrastructure, and using it as an M&A fund shows that the company sees its stock as a living trading tool, not a proof of concept.
Franklin Templeton’s long-term bet on bitcoin is a digital asset
Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson has been direct about how he sees blockchain’s threat to traditional finance – he said that blockchains put a stake in Wall Street’s stock market, not just its technology.
This is related to the company’s recent activities: You can find out the stock price history of Bitcoin ETF years before business interests, and introduced ETFs themselves return stock shares to Bitcoinand now getting the crypto-native community to use the organization at scale.
The Digito 250 acquisition is the most stable unit here. Rather than hiding crypto exposure within an ETF or fund of funds, Franklin Templeton is creating a division with its leadership, financial acumen, and corporate market-tracking mandate.
With more than $1.5 trillion in assets under management, Franklin Templeton’s total dedication to the dedicated crypto community sends a signal to all other asset management companies. The company does not see the digital economy as a side item.
It’s working, getting, and sending money like crypto and it’s institutionalized.
