401(k) crypto rule from the Labor Department reaches the White House

A US Labor Department rule that would make it easier to add crypto to 401(k) retirement plans reached the White House for final review on Thursday. According to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), the document is meant to give employers more legal cover when they offer workers alternative investments. This is money Americans set aside for retirement, so even a small crypto share in those plans would mean a new stream of capital.

The department's March proposal names no token and sets no market cap floor. Six criteria will decide, and by experts' estimates real products inside plans are still far off.

What is sitting on the White House desk

The final text of the rule landed at OIRA on November 5. That is the last stop before publication, and it can take up to 90 days. After that the document goes out officially, and it normally takes effect another 60 days later.

The goal is simple. Plan managers today fear lawsuits if they add something unusual to the familiar fund menu. The new rule lowers that risk without removing it: plans can still be sued over investment decisions.

Crypto sits in the document next to other alternative assets, not as its own item. That matters for scale: the rule does not build a separate lane for it, it simply stops shutting it out.

Six criteria instead of a coin list

The department did not limit the choice to bitcoin, ether or any list at all. Instead, a plan manager has to assess an asset on six parameters: performance, fees, liquidity, valuation, benchmarks and complexity.

• Performance and fees get compared with what the plan already holds.
• Liquidity and valuation: a daily, clear price that can be documented.
• A benchmark has to exist, otherwise there is nothing to compare the asset against.
• Complexity covers storage, cybersecurity and recordkeeping in the systems plan providers run.

Attorney Teresa Goody Guillén of Bellementis explained that market size does not settle the question. In her words, big does not mean suitable, and small does not mean disqualified. That sounds logical, but in practice it will work more strictly than it reads.

Bitcoin and ether pass, the rest stall on price history

As of 20:01 UTC on November 6, per CoinGecko, Bitcoin had a market cap of about $1.5 trillion and Ethereum about $273 billion. The gap is roughly 5.5 times, but a pension fund cares about something else: both coins have regulated wrappers and a trading history.

Bernardo Brites, co-founder and CEO of Trace Finance, puts it more bluntly. Run tokens through the six criteria and bitcoin passes clearly, ether passes, and the rest drop out on track record or benchmark before market cap even comes up. His practical test: can a plan committee document a daily, reliable price from a regulated wrapper.

Experts expect ETFs and managed funds to arrive first, because they fit existing custody and recordkeeping systems. Holding coins directly in a plan raises questions about storage, security and pricing that are still unresolved. So the rule changes the legal risk, not the plumbing, as Brites put it.

A calendar to 2028 and the risk of a reversal

Add up the deadlines and this is what you get. The longest review scenario ends in early February 2027. Another 60 days before it takes effect points to early April. That is our own calculation from the stated terms, not an official date.

Brites expects the first crypto options in plans in 2027, then ETFs at larger employers later that year, and wide availability in retirement funds by 2028. The pace is set not by the regulator but by plan providers, who have to rebuild their recordkeeping.

There is political risk too. The 2022 guidance was reversed in 2025, so anyone signing a ten-year plan design has to assume the new rule could be rolled back as well. On top of that, courts lean less and less on agency interpretations.

What to count on now

For the market this is deferred demand, not immediate demand. The first money from retirement plans, if it comes, will reach bitcoin and ether through ETFs in 2027, while altcoins will prove their suitability much later or not at all.

For us as rate watchers, two dates are worth tracking: the rule leaving OIRA and the day it takes effect. Both will show up before the first dollar from a retirement plan reaches Bitcoin, and both can go into the calendar today.