Franklin Templeton Taps Crypto Selloff To Build New Digital Asset Arm: Report

• According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Franklin Templeton is acquiring 250 Digital to establish a new crypto-focused division called Franklin Crypto.
• The new unit will reportedly target institutional investors, including pensions and sovereign wealth funds, with tailored digital asset strategies.
• Franklin Templeton was among the first few institutional players to dip their toe into the cryptocurrency market and has already built a suite of crypto ETFs.

Franklin Templeton (BEN) is reportedly buying 250 Digital, a spinoff from CoinFund, to create its new crypto arm, Franklin Crypto.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Franklin Crypto will be Franklin Templeton’s new arm offering strategies that appeal to pensions, sovereign wealth funds, and other institutional investors. Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed. 

“This big selloff that we had in the crypto markets is creating a very unique opportunity that really made us all decide that this is the right time to pull the trigger, “ Sandy Kaul, Franklin’s head of innovation, told The Wall Street Journal. “Because I think that there’s going to be a lot of interest in creating more of a stable home for many of these top crypto trading talents.”

BEN’s stock rose as much as 1.5% in the pre-market trade on Wednesday. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around the company remained in ‘neutral’ territory over the past day, with chatter at ‘high’ levels. 

The Crypto Market Selloff

The cryptocurrency market has fallen over 20% year-to-date and is down over 40% since peaking at $4.27 trillion in October last year. Bitcoin (BTC) has shown a similar downtrend but performed better than the S&P 500, gold, and other assets amid the current market turmoil caused by the U.S.-Iran war.

Bitcoin’s price rose around 2.8% in the last 24 hours to $68,500, nearly 50% below its peak of over $126,000 seen in October. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around the apex cryptocurrency continued to trend in ‘bearish’ territory over the past day. 

Franklin Templeton was among the early institutional investors to launch crypto-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Its suite of products currently includes, the Franklin Bitcoin ETF (EZBC), the Franklin Ethereum ETF (EZET), and the Franklin Crypto Index ETF (EZPZ). It also has crypto products focused on smaller altcoins like the Franklin Solana ETF (SOEZ) and Franklin XRP ETF (XRPZ).

Read also: Bitcoin Reclaims $68K But Ethereum Outpaces Gains Ahead Of Trump's Iran Speech

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