Franklin Templeton to acquire crypto investment management firm

Franklin Templeton is acquiring crypto investment manager 250 Digital, creating a dedicated Franklin Crypto unit to expand institutional digital-asset offerings. The deal, expected to close in Q2 2026, transfers 250 Digital’s team and liquid crypto strategies to Franklin Templeton and will be partly paid in BENJI tokens (blockchain-based mutual fund shares). The move underscores growing institutional adoption—Franklin already ran U.S.-listed bitcoin ETFs and had ~$1.8 billion in digital-asset AUM as of Dec. 31—and targets pension and sovereign-wealth clients. The acquisition comes amid a sizable bitcoin selloff (down ~46% from an October peak above $126,000), which the firm views as a buying/opportunity window and signals increased mainstream legitimacy for crypto strategies.