Law Decoded: Crypto retirement plans get hot with Warren and Lummis making their moves, May 2–9, 2022
Retirement plans still largely remain at the periphery of both crypto adoption and the regulatory discussion. But last week, a major development emerged in this department. United States Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tina Smith of Minnesota became concerned about Fidelity’s recent announcement of adding Bitcoin (BTC) to its clients’ 401(k) retirement investment menu. In a letter to the company’s CEO Abigail Johnson, the lawmakers expressed their uneasiness over a “conflict of interests” and the “significant risks of fraud, theft and loss,” requesting from Fidelity a detailed outline of risk mitigation actions.
Crypto 401(k) plans are still relatively rare, but they have already drawn suspicious attention from the U.S. Department of Labor. Crypto retirement investment does have its allies in high places, though. In response to Warren and Smith’s letter, Senator Tommy Tuberville from Alabama has unveiled a new bill titled the Financial Freedom Act to allow Americans to add cryptocurrency to their 401(k) retirement savings plan unencumbered by regulatory guidance.
Meanwhile, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis’ hotly-anticipated crypto bill remains in the works. This week, Lummis once again teased it during a livestream, mentioning her intention to allow — perhaps, to legitimize, as it isn’t really prohibited — the integration of crypto assets into Americans’ 401(k) retirement savings packages.
“A global agreement on crypto should first enshrine that no product remains unregulated,” stated Mairead McGuinness, the commissioner for financial services, financial stability and capital markets union at the European Commission, stated in her opinion piece last week. McGuinness called on the European Union and the
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