Franklin Templeton has finalized its acquisition of 250 Digital and launched Franklin Crypto, a dedicated institutional digital asset division that represents a significant expansion of career opportunities in traditional finance's crypto sector.
The $1.5 trillion asset manager completed the deal originally announced in April 2025, bringing aboard the entire 250 Digital team that spun out of CoinFund in January 2026. Christopher Perkins will lead Franklin Crypto as its head, while Seth Ginns joins as Chief Investment Officer, both bringing extensive institutional digital asset experience from their years at CoinFund.
Strategic Build-Out of Crypto Talent
The acquisition marks one of the most substantial talent acquisitions in traditional finance's move toward digital assets. Rather than building a crypto operation from scratch, Franklin Templeton acquired an established team with proven expertise in liquid crypto strategies and institutional portfolio construction.
Franklin Crypto will target pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and large institutional allocators, offering exposure through regulated structures across liquid token markets, venture investments, and blockchain infrastructure products. This mandate suggests the division will require expanded hiring across investment, compliance, operations, and client service functions as it scales to serve major institutional clients.
Tokenized Payment Sets Industry Precedent
The transaction structure itself broke new ground in financial services M&A. Franklin Templeton used BENJI tokens—on-chain representations of its Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund—as partial consideration for the acquisition. This represents one of the first major financial services acquisitions settled using tokenized securities rather than traditional payment methods.
The use of BENJI tokens demonstrates Franklin Templeton's blockchain infrastructure has moved beyond pilot projects into operational deployment, potentially creating demand for professionals skilled in tokenized securities and blockchain-based settlement systems.
Implications for Web3 Professionals
Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson has consistently positioned blockchain technology as a fundamental challenge to traditional finance structures, not merely a new asset class. The creation of a dedicated division with its own leadership and investment mandate signals genuine institutional commitment rather than experimental exposure through ETF products.
For crypto professionals, this acquisition reflects a broader trend of traditional asset managers building permanent digital asset teams. The move suggests increased demand for talent that can bridge institutional finance requirements with crypto-native expertise, particularly in regulated product development and institutional client servicing.
