Some Crypto Clarity for Retirement Plans

American Retirement Association [ARA]

Cryptocurrency and its potential place on 401(k) investment menus has been very much in the news of late. American Retirement Association CEO Brian Graff recently sat down with Tim Hauser, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Program Operations of the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), for some insights and perspective on the DOL’s Compliance Assistance Release on cryptocurrency and the impact on retirement plans.

The video interview covered a wide range of questions and potential concerns with Compliance Assistance Release 2202-01, published by the Employee Benefits Security Administration in March, including:

• What led to the release—and could the focus included in the release change over time?
• Did it create a new obligation for plan fiduciaries?
• Did the call for fiduciaries to exercise “extreme care” change the existing fiduciary standard?
• How the recent Supreme Court decision in the Northwestern case ties in.
• Has the DOL identified an investment class/category for this kind of scrutiny previously?
• What the plans might be for EBSA enforcement in this area.
• The difference in role/responsibility between the plan fiduciary and those offering options on a recordkeeping platform.
• How this relates to “related products”?
• How might this be applied to brokerage windows?
• Does limiting the percentage invested in crypto matter from EBSA’s perspective?
• What about cryptocurrency investment in managed accounts?

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