Trump’s Crypto 401(k) Plan Sparks Lawmaker Support, SEC In Spotlight

Reports have disclosed that a bipartisan group of lawmakers has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to act quickly on an executive order from US President Donald Trump that could open 401(k) plans to alternative assets, including ￰0￱ executive order was signed on August 7, 2025 and directs federal regulators to examine rules that have kept many retirement savers out of private ￰1￱ Press SEC For Swift Action In a letter sent on September 22, nine House members led by Representative French Hill and ￰2￱ Wagner asked SEC Chair Paul Atkins to provide “swift assistance” in implementing the president’s ￰3￱ lawmakers asked the SEC to work with the Department of Labor to clarify how participant-directed defined-contribution plans could offer access to private equity, real estate and digital assets while still protecting workers.

NEW: Chairman @RepFrenchHill , @RepAnnWagner , @RepFrankLucas , @Rep_Davidson , @RepStutzman , @RepGarbarino , @RepMikeLawler , @RepTroyDowning and @RepHaridopolos sent a letter to @SECGov Chair Atkins supporting @POTUS ‘ recent EO allowing 401(k) investors to access alternative assets… ￰4￱ — Financial Services GOP (@FinancialCmte) September 22, 2025 Labor Rule Change Removes A Big Roadblock The backdrop to the push is a change at the Department of ￰5￱ late May the DOL withdrew a 2022 guidance that had warned plan fiduciaries to use “extreme care” before adding cryptocurrency to 401(k) ￰6￱ pullback left the department in a neutral stance and increased pressure on the SEC to lay out clearer rules for how such options could be ￰7￱ Market Scale Is Huge Based on reports , the US defined-contribution market holds roughly $12 trillion and covers more than 90 million ￰8￱ means even a small allocation to crypto could represent large dollar ￰9￱ and industry pieces have pointed out that a 1% allocation across a very large pool would translate into billions of dollars moving into crypto-related ￰10￱ sponsors and fund managers are already watching the ￰11￱ From Lawyers And Some Analysts RemainOther observers stress ￰12￱ say cryptocurrencies are volatile and pose record-keeping, valuation and custody challenges that are different from stocks and ￰13￱ experts warn that adding these assets to plans without clear guardrails could expose plan sponsors to legal and financial ￰14￱ show a mix of optimism and caution across the ￰15￱ image from Nasdaq, chart from TradingView