Overview
- The National Institute on Retirement Security survey released Aug. 26 found 77% of adults see cryptocurrency in workplace retirement plans as risky and 53% oppose employers offering it.
- The Labor Department proposed a rule in March 2026 that would let plan fiduciaries add alternative assets, including crypto, if they document valuation, liquidity, fees, participant understanding, and other prudence checks.
- In June 2026 Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and Representative Bobby Scott formally urged the Labor Department to withdraw the proposal, citing crypto’s volatility, fraud risk, valuation challenges, and weaker investor safeguards.
- Actual use of alternatives in 401(k)s remains tiny, with roughly 4% of plans offering any alternative options and alternatives making up about 0.1% of plan assets, so regulatory change has not yet shifted savers’ portfolios.
- The debate sits against broader retirement worry — 80% of respondents say the country faces a retirement crisis and 61% fear they lack enough savings — which helps explain why many workers resist adding higher‑risk investments to retirement accounts.