The Labor Department on Wednesday rescinded guidance the Biden administration issued that discouraged cryptocurrency options in 401(k) retirement plans.<\/p>\n
The guidance from March 2022 directed plan fiduciaries to exercise \u201cextreme care\u201d before adding cryptocurrency to investment options.<\/p>\n
The Employee Benefits Security Administration argued in the new guidance<\/a> that rescinding the Biden-era guidance reaffirms the \u201cneutral stance\u201d of the Labor Department and is not endorsing or disapproving of including cryptocurrency to investment menus.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Biden administration\u2019s department of labor made a choice to put their thumb on the scale,\u201d Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019re rolling back this overreach and making it clear that investment decisions should be made by fiduciaries, not D.C. bureaucrats.\u201d<\/p>\n The Biden administration\u2019s Employee Benefits Security Administration signaled in its guidance<\/a> that cryptocurrencies were at an \u201cearly stage\u201d and that the Labor Department has \u201cserious concerns about the prudence of a fiduciary\u2019s decision to expose a 401(k) plan\u2019s participants to direct investments in cryptocurrencies.\u201d<\/p>\n The Trump administration has embraced cryptocurrencies, and the new guidance comes as Vice President Vance is set to give remarks at a bitcoin conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday.<\/p>\n