The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration has reversed a 2022 compliance release that previously advised against including cryptocurrency options in 401(k) retirement plans.
The 2022 guidance urged plan fiduciaries to exercise “extreme care” before offering cryptocurrency as an investment option, which diverged from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s requirements and represented a shift from the department’s usual neutral, principle-based approach to fiduciary investment decisions.
U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer commented, “The Biden administration’s Department of Labor chose to intervene unnecessarily. We are reversing this overreach and clarifying that investment decisions should be left to fiduciaries, not Washington bureaucrats.”
With the rescinding of the 2022 guidance, the department reinstates its neutral position, neither supporting nor opposing fiduciaries who believe that including cryptocurrency in a plan’s investment offerings is suitable.
