Franklin Templeton Closes 250 Digital Deal, Launches Active Crypto Unit

The common read on this deal is that it extends Franklin Templeton's tokenization work. The firm has been building digital-asset infrastructure since 2018, mostly around tokenized money-market funds and passive products. In February it struck a deal with Binance allowing institutional clients to use tokenized fund shares as trading collateral. A March partnership with Ondo Finance put tokenized ETFs on blockchain networks.

The 250 Digital acquisition adds something those moves did not: a team that actively trades liquid crypto markets rather than wrapping passive fund structures into tokens. Active management of bitcoin, ether, and other liquid tokens is a different business from tokenization. It requires execution skill, custody relationships across exchanges, and the ability to size positions for institutional accounts. Franklin Templeton lacked that capability until now.

One detail that ties the two worlds together: Franklin Templeton used BENJI tokens to settle part of the acquisition. BENJI tokens represent shares of the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund, a regulated money-market product recorded on a public blockchain. That makes this one of the first major financial-services deals settled partly with tokenized fund shares rather than cash or traditional securities.

Data from RWA.xyz shows how quickly Franklin Templeton's tokenized asset base has grown. The firm's on-chain holdings rose from about $768 million in June 2025 to more than $2.5 billion a year later. The broader market for on-chain real-world assets climbed from $11.8 billion to $32.2 billion over the same period.

Franklin Templeton manages roughly $1.78 trillion in assets across more than 35 countries. The 250 Digital team will give it a way to offer active crypto exposure to the same institutional base that buys its tokenized funds. Whether the active unit draws new mandates or simply reshuffles existing allocations will be clearer after the first quarterly performance report.