The U.S. Department of Labor sent its final rule on alternative investments in retirement plans to the White House on Nov. 5 for review, according to crypto.news and Bitcoin Magazine. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs logged the submission under the title "Fiduciary Duties In Selecting Designated Investment Alternatives," with rule identifier beginning in 1210, Bitcoin Magazine reported. The outlet said OIRA review is the last interagency checkpoint before a rule can be published in the Federal Register, and the filing carries no legal deadline for completion.
The final rule follows a proposal the department unveiled on March 30, which covered how retirement-plan managers evaluate options including private equity, real estate and digital assets, crypto.news reported. That draft listed six non-exhaustive factors for fiduciaries to weigh, covering performance, fees, liquidity, valuation and complexity, both outlets said. Bitcoin Magazine noted the proposal traces to an executive order President Trump signed in 2025 directing the Labor Department to examine safe harbors for alternative assets, and that the department had previously rescinded 2022 guidance urging "extreme care" before adding crypto to retirement-plan menus.
Americans held $10.8 trillion in retirement savings covered by the rule as of June 30, with mutual funds managing $6.2 trillion, or 58%, of that total, crypto.news reported, citing Investment Company Institute data. Sweep, in a Nov. 6 post cited by crypto.news, calculated that shifting 2% of that balance into crypto would generate $216 billion in new inflows, a hypothetical figure with no confirmed commitments from employers or plan managers. Bitcoin Magazine put the broader retirement-plan market at roughly $12 trillion, covering more than 90 million defined-contribution savers. Neither outlet reported whether the six-factor safe harbor survived the public comment period unchanged, nor gave a timetable for OIRA to finish its review.
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