Crypto Assets Have No Place in 401(k) Plans

A proposed rule would allow wealthy investors to unload crypto assets at the expense of average Americans.

Last year, President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order calling for policies that allow everyday Americans to invest in private equity funds, crypto assets, and other “alternative assets” through their retirement plans. In response, the U.S. Department of Labor recently proposed a rule designed to protect retirement plan administrators from claims that they failed to satisfy their fiduciary duties to plan beneficiaries by adding these assets to 401(k) plans.

But crypto assets have no place in the 401(k) plans of hardworking Americans. The Labor Department should instead revert to the sensible guidance it issued in 2022, which urged plan fiduciaries to exercise extreme care before adding a cryptocurrency option to a 401(k) plan’s investment menu.

The Trump Administration has indicated that everyday American investors want the “competitive returns and asset diversification” associated with crypto asset investment options. But in reality, everyday investors are far from clamoring for crypto assets to be included in their 401(k) plans.

Recent polling shows that the vast majority of Americans distrust crypto and want little to do with it. As Politico reported, “voters are broadly skeptical of the crypto industry,” and “industry lobbying and political spending—not voter attitudes—have driven the major surge in focus on crypto policymaking in recent years.”