$1.4 Trillion Asset Management Firm Franklin Templeton Announces Blockchain Fund II, Targeting Institutional Investors

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Fredrik Vold

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June 26, 2023 06:55 EDT

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Asset management giant Franklin Templeton has announced that it is setting up a second blockchain fund, after first entering the crypto market in 2021.

Franklin Templeton Blockchain Fund II, which is the official name of the new fund, will be a private equity fund with a minimum investment amount of $100,000, according to an SEC filing.

The rather high minimum investment amount indicates that the firm with its new fund is targeting institutional investors and high-net worth individuals.

The new fund differs from the firm’s first blockchain fund, a venture capital fund with investments focused on the 10-15 largest digital assets.

The firm’s original blockchain fund was organized with so-called separately managed accounts (SMAs), which is often preferred by financial institutions and means that funds from one customer are not pooled together with funds from other customers.

The move to set up another crypto-focused fund is seen as yet another sign that mainstream finance is starting to accept crypto as an asset class. It also demonstrates that the existing financial services industry is eager to capitalize on the flow of money into crypto.

Franklin Templeton is known as one of the most crypto-friendly asset managers in the industry, and the firm has in the past hired both crypto traders to analysts for its venture into the digital assets space.

Notably, the asset manager has also been a proponent for tokenization of traditional financial assets, and makes use of on-chain transactions on the Stellar network for its OnChain U.S. Government Money Market Fund.

Franklin Templeton is among the largest asset managers in the US with more than $1.4 trillion in assets under management.