Author: DLNews

Translation: Deep Tide TechFlow

Deep Tide Introduction: Franklin Templeton, managing over $1.5 trillion, has not only acquired a company but has established an independent crypto business division.

Combined with Mastercard's $1.8 billion acquisition of BVNK and Stripe's acquisition of Bridge, traditional financial institutions are concentrating their efforts, and experts expect that the scale of crypto mergers and acquisitions in 2026 will exceed $37 billion.

Franklin Templeton has formally established a new crypto business division—Franklin Crypto.

The news comes alongside another announcement: this investment giant announced the acquisition of 250 Digital, a crypto investment management company spun off from CoinFund. The parties did not disclose the acquisition amount.

"The era of institutional investment in the crypto industry has arrived. Franklin Crypto will help our global clients navigate this complex and rapidly evolving asset class, providing expertise, insights, and digital asset products that meet professional investment needs," said Christopher Perkins, who will take on the role of head of the new division, in a statement to DL News.

The news of this deal comes amid the recent intensive actions of traditional financial institutions. In March, Mastercard acquired the stablecoin infrastructure startup BVNK for $1.8 billion, and the institutional lender FundBank acquired the Irish blockchain startup Trrue Chain for $11 million. The fintech giant Stripe, valued at $159 billion, also took action by acquiring stablecoin project Bridge and several other companies.

Experts predict that the continued acquisition of blockchain companies by traditional financial institutions will drive the total scale of crypto mergers and acquisitions in 2026 to exceed the $37 billion achieved in 2025.

Franklin Crypto

Franklin Crypto will further expand on Franklin Templeton's existing crypto and blockchain venture capital business while striving to broaden the company's digital asset investment management platform. As of December 31 last year, the global assets managed by Franklin Templeton Digital Assets were approximately $1.8 billion.

This transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year.

Franklin Templeton's ambitions in crypto are no secret. In December of last year, Robert Crossley, head of global industry consulting services for the company, told DL News that they are seeing a growing interest from institutional investors.

"We see more and more mature investors starting to consider diversified allocations and long-term returns," Crossley said. "Younger investors are attracted to crypto because it aligns naturally with how they interact with technology and money."

"As digital assets become part of mainstream financial planning, the gap between these two groups of investors is narrowing," Crossley added.