Written by: Nicky, Foresight News
On June 22, Franklin Templeton announced the completion of its acquisition of 250 Digital and officially established the crypto asset management division Franklin Crypto, focusing on providing actively managed cryptocurrency strategies for institutional investors.
The new division will be led by Christopher Perkins as head, with Seth Ginns serving as Chief Investment Officer. Both, together with Tony Pecore from Franklin Templeton's digital assets team, will manage the division, reporting to Sandy Kaul, Head of Innovation. Perkins previously worked at Citigroup for 13 years, and Ginns began his career at Credit Suisse.
This acquisition includes 250 Digital's entire investment team and its previously CoinFund-operated liquid crypto strategies. Franklin Templeton has explicitly stated it will invest capital into these strategies. As of the end of 2025, its digital assets division managed approximately $1.8 billion in assets, while the company's total assets under management were about $1.78 trillion as of the end of May 2026.
Franklin Templeton's foray into the crypto space began in 2018 when it formed a digital assets team of over 50 people, engaged in blockchain technology R&D, investment strategy development, and node validator operations. In 2021, the company launched the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (BENJI), the first registered U.S. mutual fund to use a public blockchain to process transactions and record share ownership. According to rwa.xyz data, BENJI currently has total assets of approximately $831 million, 1,114 holders, and a 7-day annualized yield of 3.5%.
Subsequently, its product line gradually expanded around spot ETFs. In January 2024, the Bitcoin Spot ETF (EZBC) was approved and launched, with net assets of approximately $368 million as of June 21, 2026. In July of the same year, the Ethereum Spot ETF (EZET) went live, with net assets of about $34.62 million for the same period.
In 2025, the company further expanded its crypto product offerings. In February, it launched the Crypto Index ETF (EZPZ), initially holding primarily Bitcoin and Ethereum. In December of that year, it expanded to include various crypto assets such as ADA, LINK, DOGE, SOL, XLM, and XRP. As of June 21, 2026, its net assets were approximately $12.43 million. In November, the XRP Spot ETF (XRPZ) was launched, with net assets of about $252 million for the same period, ranking second among the company's crypto ETFs. In December, the Solana Spot ETF (SOEZ) with staking functionality went live, with net assets of approximately $8.19 million for the same period, holding about 112.9K SOL, of which approximately 99.81% was staked.
Entering 2026, Franklin Templeton continued to launch new products. In June, the company filed an application with the SEC, planning to launch two Bitcoin DRIP ETFs that automatically reinvest stock dividends into Bitcoin. The initial allocation will be 95% U.S. large-cap stocks plus 5% Bitcoin, with Bitcoin's maximum share not exceeding 20%. They are expected to take effect as early as September.
Currently, Franklin Templeton's crypto product line covers three levels: tokenized funds represented by BENJI, a passive ETF series consisting of EZBC, EZET, XRPZ, SOEZ, and EZPZ, and the actively managed strategies led by Franklin Crypto. Target clients include institutions such as pension funds and sovereign wealth funds.
Beyond crypto ETFs and active management strategies, Franklin Templeton has also expanded into a broader crypto ecosystem through investments and partnerships in recent years. In 2025, the company participated in funding for the decentralized protocol Ethena, a project primarily engaged in issuing the synthetic dollar stablecoin USDe. Also in 2025, Franklin Templeton invested in crypto API developer Crossmint, which provides NFT and wallet infrastructure services for enterprises. In terms of public chain partnerships, the company established connections with Aptos, and its on-chain Treasury fund BENJI went live on the Aptos network in 2025. Furthermore, according to public reports, Franklin Templeton also has cooperative relationships with the Sui ecosystem.
For comparison, another traditional asset management giant, Fidelity Investments, has taken a different path in the crypto space. Fidelity began researching Bitcoin and blockchain in 2014, established Fidelity Digital Assets in 2018, focusing on building its own custody and trading infrastructure. Its Bitcoin Spot ETF (FBTC) had assets exceeding $11 billion by mid-June 2026, far surpassing Franklin Templeton's comparable product.
In early 2026, Fidelity also launched the Ethereum-based stablecoin FIDD, with a current circulation of approximately 62.6 million tokens. As of Q1 2026, Fidelity's total assets under management were approximately $7 trillion. While the paths of the two institutions differ, both reflect the trend of traditional asset managers delving deeper into the crypto space.
