Regulation that could facilitate cryptocurrency investments in the approximately $12 trillion 401(k) retirement market in the US has reached its final review stage before publication. The final text, prepared by the US Department of Labor, reached the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) at the White House yesterday.
According to official records, the regulation has been classified as economically significant. There is no legal deadline for OIRA to complete its review. The final text of the regulation has not yet been made public.
At the heart of the change are the managers who decide which funds are offered to employees in employer-sponsored pension plans. A draft published by the Department of Labor in March envisioned providing these managers with legal protection if they documented the process they followed in determining investment options.
The draft lists six elements for evaluation. Managers will look at the investment’s performance, costs, liquidity, how it is valued, which benchmarks it compares to, and how complex the product is. This framework aims to reduce the risk of lawsuits for employers who want to add funds investing in crypto assets to their plans. Plan managers will decide which funds will be offered to employees.
The process is based on a presidential executive order signed by Donald Trump on August 7, 2025. The order listed active-managed funds investing in digital assets, in addition to private equity and real estate, as alternative investment options. In May of the same year, the Labor Department withdrew its 2022 guidance that advised “extreme caution” when considering cryptocurrency options.
A potential change for Bitcoin is that employees will be able to access funds offered in their retirement plans that allocate a portion of their portfolio to digital assets. Whether the six criteria from the March draft will be retained, under what conditions crypto funds will be included, and the effective date of the regulation will be determined when the final text is published.
*This is not investment advice.
