Crypto in 401(k) plans: Trump administration eases rules

The Trump administration on Wednesday relaxed barriers in 401(k) plans to buying cryptocurrency and related digital assets like NFTs and meme coins.

The Labor Department rescinded guidance put in place by the Biden-era Labor Department in 2022 that aimed to safeguard 401(k) investors from such digital assets.

At the time, the Biden labor officials cautioned employers to exercise “extreme care” before making crypto and related investments available to their workers. They cited “serious concerns” about the prudence of exposing investors’ retirement savings to crypto given “significant risks of fraud, theft, and loss.”

The Trump Labor Department has withdrawn that guidance in full.

The agency said the standard of “extreme care” cited by the Biden administration is not found in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

“Prior to the 2022 release, the Department had usually articulated a neutral approach to particular investment types and strategies,” the Trump Labor Department said in a compliance assistance bulletin issued Wednesday.

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The department said that it is “neither endorsing, nor disapproving of” employers who decide that adding crypto to a 401(k) investment list is appropriate.

The Labor Department’s reasoning extends to cryptocurrencies and “a wide range” of digital assets like “tokens, coins, crypto assets, and any derivatives thereof,” it said.

The move comes at a time when President Trump has launched a $TRUMP meme coin that’s added billions of dollars in paper wealth to his net worth and led Democratic senators to call for an ethics probe.

President Trump has pledged to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world.”

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