Franklin Templeton acquires digital assets investment firm in active crypto management push

Mutual fund giant Franklin Templeton has agreed to buy a small crypto investment firm, 250 Digital, which will join its newly established Franklin Crypto unit, as the firm deepens its digital assets push.

By bringing 250 in-house, Franklin Templeton hopes to be able to increase its actively managed crypto investment offerings for its institutional clients beyond basic exposure through products like its bitcoin ETFs. The firm manages $1.8 billion in global assets.

“Together, their investment talent and differentiated strategies strengthen our capabilities in digital assets and position us among a small group of global asset managers with a dedicated, institutional-grade crypto investment management team, enhancing our ability to serve clients worldwide,” Jenny Johnson, CEO of Franklin Templeton, said in a statement.

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter and will be paid in part using BENJI tokens — the digital asset securities representing shares of Franklin Templeton’s blockchain-based mutual fund, the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund.

The move is part of a broader trend of institutions favoring yield and sophisticated active strategies as passive crypto products (like the spot bitcoin and ether ETFs) mature. It comes as crypto specialty asset manager CoinShares began trading on the Nasdaq Wednesday.

Institutional appetite for crypto is growing despite recent price suppression. Bitcoin‘s run to its October peak reflected steadier institutional buying versus retail momentum chasing as in previous cycles, evidenced by bitcoin ETF inflows. In March, inflows into BlackRock‘s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) jumped back up, snapping a 4-month streak of mostly negligible outflows. Also, Morgan Stanley has plans to launch its own spot bitcoin ETF after staying largely conservative on crypto for years.

Bitcoin’s price is down 41% over the past six months and 21% this year, according to CoinMetrics.

Franklin Templeton has strong roots in active investing and has become one of the more progressive legacy finance firms when it comes to crypto. Its footprint in digital assets spans crypto ETFs, traditional funds tokenized on public blockchains and partnerships with major crypto industry platers like Binance.