U.S. Department of Labor Reverses 2022 Guidance That Blocked Digital Assets From 401(k) Plans

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is scrapping a mandate in its 2022 guidance that prevented digital assets from being included in 401(k) retirement plans.

In a new press release, the DOL says it’s rolling back its 2022 compliance release, which previously instructed institutions to forgo using crypto assets as options for 401(k) plans.

In 2022, the DOL warned fiduciaries to use “extreme care” before offering digital assets as options for retirement plans, language that was considered unusual at the time as the agency historically has taken a neutral approach toward the subject, according to the press release.

According to U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the DOL is rolling back the government overreach created by the Biden Administration.

Says Chavez-DeRemer,

“The Biden administration’s department of labor made a choice to put their thumb on the scale. We’re rolling back this overreach and making it clear that investment decisions should be made by fiduciaries, not D.C. bureaucrats.”

The DOL says it’s neither endorsing nor disapproving of employers who choose to include crypto assets and notes that its reasoning extends to other crypto-related products, such as derivatives.

Previously, the DOL said it had “serious concerns” about people’s retirement funds being tied up in crypto due to “significant risks of fraud, theft, and loss.”