Franklin Templeton, a leading global asset management firm, has spearheaded an undisclosed investment round for Blockhead, a blockchain-focused media publication based in Singapore.
With over $1.5 trillion in client assets, Franklin Templeton’s investment in Blockhead highlights the growing interest in digital assets among traditional financial institutions.
Blockhead, which started in 2022, is known for its news site that focuses on the digital asset industry, particularly within the Asian region.
The funding from Franklin Templeton is aimed at expanding Blockhead’s operations, specifically through the development of an institutional-grade digital asset research platform named BRN. The platform is designed to offer detailed analytics, market intelligence, and insights on blockchain technology to institutional and high-net-worth investors.
According to Mark Tan, CEO of Blockhead, the collaboration with Franklin Templeton is a significant endorsement of their vision and future endeavors. He emphasized the unique perspective his publication brings to the digital asset industry and its plans to extend its services to include comprehensive research and analytical tools.
BRN aims to provide its subscribers with exclusive insights into the crypto ecosystem, independent market analyses, and advice for institutional investors navigating the digital asset landscape. Its initial focus will be on major cryptocurrencies, prevailing industry trends, and the overall economic environment affecting the digital asset space.
Kevin Farrelly, Director of Digital Asset Management at Franklin Templeton, highlighted the potential for digital assets in Asia as a driving factor behind their investment. He expressed enthusiasm for Blockhead’s insights and the promising trajectory of their business plans.
The latest investment follows Franklin Templeton’s active participation in the cryptocurrency space, including their recent moves to seek regulatory approval for a spot Ethereum ETF alongside other asset management giants such as BlackRock and Ark Invest.
On Jan. 18, the firm expressed support for the Solana network, indicating potential growth areas such as decentralized finance (defi), infrastructure networks, and non-fungible token (NFT) innovations fueling speculation regarding the possibility of a Solana-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the future.
Following the introduction of spot Bitcoin ETFs on Jan. 11, there is an industry-wide anticipation that other cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum and XRP, will soon be included in United States spot crypto ETFs.
