Franklin Templeton Acquires CoinFund Spinoff 250 Digital to Launch Institutional Crypto Division

Franklin Templeton announces the acquisition of 250 Digital, a CoinFund spinoff, to create Franklin Crypto, a dedicated institutional crypto investment management division targeting pensions and sovereign wealth funds. The deal, expected to close in Q2, brings the entire 250 Digital team including Christopher Perkins as division leader and Seth Ginns as Chief Investment Officer, along with all crypto strategies. Franklin Templeton will use BENJI tokens from its on-chain money market fund as partial payment, marking a novel use of the tokenized fund first launched in 2021 and expanded to Ethereum, Solana, Base, and Arbitrum. The acquisition follows Franklin Templeton's recent partnership with Ondo Finance to tokenize five ETFs, signaling an aggressive push into institutional crypto services.

Franklin Templeton's Acquisition of 250 Digital and Formation of Franklin Crypto

• ▪Franklin Templeton will invest in 250 Digital's crypto strategies as part of the acquisition deal
• ▪The Franklin Templeton acquisition of 250 Digital is expected to close during Q2
• ▪Franklin Templeton is acquiring 250 Digital, a crypto investment firm and spinoff from CoinFund
• ▪The Franklin Templeton acquisition brings the 250 Digital team and all its crypto strategies to Franklin Templeton
• ▪Financial details of the Franklin Templeton acquisition of 250 Digital were not disclosed

Leadership and Strategic Capabilities of the New Crypto Division

• ▪Seth Ginns previously led 250 Digital alongside Christopher Perkins

Use of BENJI Tokens and Franklin Templeton's Blockchain Expansion

• ▪BENJI tokens will be used as payment considerations in the Franklin Templeton acquisition of 250 Digital
• ▪Franklin Templeton announced a deal with Ondo Finance to launch tokenized versions of five of its exchange-traded funds one week before announcing the 250 Digital acquisition
• ▪Franklin Templeton first debuted the tokenized fund in 2021
• ▪Franklin Templeton expanded the tokenized fund's access to Ethereum in 2024

Perspective of Franklin Templeton

• ▪Franklin Templeton views the 250 Digital acquisition as expanding its digital asset capabilities beyond tokenized funds

Perspective of 250 Digital and CoinFund

• ▪The 250 Digital team gains access to Franklin Templeton's institutional client base through the acquisition