Trump’s Executive Order Opens Door For Crypto in Retirement Accounts

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that allows investors to add cryptocurrencies, private equity, property, gold, and other kinds of non-traditional assets to their retirement savings accounts, otherwise known as 401(k) accounts.

Trump Order Opens 401(k)s To Crypto

On Thursday, August 7, President Trump signed a new executive order that will make it easy for Americans to include cryptocurrencies in their 401(k) accounts. For the first time ever, 401(k) plans can now include private equity, real estate, and crypto investments.

Before this order, many of the 401(k) plans in the U.S. limited their asset class options available for participants. 401(k) plan providers mainly included assets like bonds, index funds, mutual funds, and company stock. 

These accounts enable American workers to place a fraction of their wages on international financial markets prior to the taxation of their earnings. By allowing investors to include more assets in their 401(k) plans, the order widens the scope of what retirement plan providers can direct funds to.

The order was directed to the Department of Labor to update its rules in order to democratize access to alternative assets in retirement. The Labor Department will work with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Treasury, and other relevant federal agencies to ensure all regulations align with the order. 

The new menu of assets that can be added to 401(k) plans offers different risks and volatility compared to the traditional assets previously used. Effectively, this is likely to make fiduciary obligations for retirement plan administrators even more complicated while they chart these new markets.

How Crypto Can Benefit From This Order

The Investment Company Institute reports that there was approximately $8.7 trillion held by Americans in 401(k) plans as of Q1 2025. These are the biggest individual retirement saving accounts nationally. An estimated 70 million Americans save through 401(k) plans. 

This policy will place some of the most exclusive investments of the financial world in the retirement portfolios of the regular American. With increasing individuals adopting and insisting on cryptos, especially in the U.S., this order would possibly create a massive influx of funds in the crypto market.

One potential direction in which to incorporate cryptocurrencies into retirement accounts is to use regulated crypto investment products such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds, in which underlying digital assets are held. This would offer exposure to the crypto market and a more familiar and possibly lower-risk means to do so to retirement savers.

Trump wrote in the order that 401k participants had been limited to investing in asset classes that lacked the long-term net benefits, like crypto, that institutional investors had reaped with alternatives. With the Trump administration betting big on the future of crypto, the average American can now also benefit by adding it to their 401(k) plans.

Reception of the Order

There has been a divide among investors since the executive order was passed. Critics say the initiative will add risk, additional costs, and a lack of transparency to retirement savings. Conversely, some have suggested that younger investors will now be able to receive higher returns over time in funds that transition to safer investments as one approaches retirement age.