The US Department of Labor reversed an earlier guidance that discouraged retirement managers from considering crypto as an investment option in 401(k) plans. Now, the US Secretary of Labor said fiduciaries, “not DC bureaucrats, should make investment decisions.”
“The Biden administration’s Department of labor made a choice to put their thumb on the scale,” Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement on Wednesday. “We’re rolling back this overreach and making it clear that investment decisions should be made by fiduciaries, not DC bureaucrats.”
This opens the door for Bitcoin and crypto assets to be part of retirement portfolios across America. This has brought Senator Tommy Tuberville’s bill to a success as he pushed to allow crypto investments in retirement funds.
The department takes neutrality in crypto investments
The 2022 guidance released by the agency tasked with protecting workers and retirees encouraged managers to “exercise extreme care” before adding crypto to their investment strategies. 401(k) plans generally restricted crypto investing, only offering indirect exposure via ETFs, mutual funds, or employer-approved options.
Before the 2022 release, the Department had generally said it had no opinion on certain types of investments and strategies. Today’s release goes back to how the Department did things by not supporting or opposing plan managers who decided that adding crypto to a plan’s investment options is a good idea.
Still, a plan manager’s choice about which type of investment to make should consider all the important facts and circumstances and will “necessarily be context-specific.” More importantly, the government’s stance is now fully neutral, meaning plan providers can offer crypto exposure.
The Labor Department is the most recent government body to change its mind about limiting crypto activity since President Trump took office in January amidst others.
In March, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation reversed standards that require financial institutions to tell the agency before engaging in crypto-related activities. Later, the Federal Reserve took back its advice that banks shouldn’t get involved in crypto.
The crypto market is stuck between a bull and a bear rally
In the past 24 hours, the market capitalization has gone down 4.1% to $3.51 trillion, but that’s still higher than the recent highs of $3.49 trillion on Tuesday and almost at $3.54 trillion last Friday. Given how risk-averse the stock markets have been over the last few days, this is an interesting move.
Bitcoin prices have been going up and down by 5% every day since May 22. They are now in the middle of that range at $111.7k. This area of highs is part of a circular extension pattern. It is 161.8% of the first upward motion from the beginning of April to the first days of May. Getting past 112k would then lead to 134k (261.8%).
The SEC’s next meeting
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will hold a major “Emerging Trends in Asset Management” conference on June 5. The conference will focus on digital assets and tokenization. This move comes at a time when blockchain and token-based trading models are becoming more popular in the business world.
At the event, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, known as “Crypto Mom,” will be joined by leaders from BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Fidelity, among others.
Because the SEC chose to include a session on digital assets shows that things are changing. It seems like regulators are not only keeping a close eye on the crypto market, but they are also now getting involved with it.
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