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Franklin Templeton Buys Crypto Firm 250 Digital to Deepen Its Digital Assets Push

Prime Highlights

  • Franklin Templeton buys crypto firm 250 Digital to offer institutions more active crypto strategies.
  • The deal is partly paid using BENJI tokens, its own blockchain-based digital securities.

Key Facts

  • Franklin Templeton manages 1.8 billion dollars in global assets.
  • Bitcoin drops 41% in six months, yet institutional demand continues to grow.

Background

Franklin Templeton will purchase the small crypto investment company 250 Digital to operate it as part of its new Franklin Crypto division. The asset management giant uses this deal to expand its operations into digital asset management.

The acquisition enables Franklin Templeton to manage active cryptocurrency operations internally, which allows the company to provide institutional investors with more advanced cryptocurrency investment options beyond its current bitcoin ETF products. The firm currently manages 1.8 billion dollars in global assets.

Sandy Kaul, head of innovation at Franklin Templeton, says institutions are now far more deliberate in how they approach digital assets. She adds that the deal brings active management capabilities at a time when institutional demand grows more serious, informed, and targeted.

The deal closes in the second quarter. Part of the payment comes in the form of BENJI tokens, digital asset securities that represent shares of Franklin Templeton’s blockchain-based mutual fund, the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund.

The move reflects a wider shift among institutions toward active crypto strategies as passive products like spot bitcoin and ether ETFs become more common. Institutional appetite for crypto holds steady despite recent price pressure. Bitcoin falls 41% over the past six months and 21% this year.

In March, inflows into BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF snapped a four-month streak of low activity, pointing to renewed institutional interest. Morgan Stanley also plans to launch its own spot bitcoin ETF.

Franklin Templeton already holds a broad digital assets footprint spanning crypto ETFs, tokenized funds on public blockchains and partnerships with major crypto industry players, including Binance.