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ForUsAll Inc., which provides 401(k) retirement plans to about 400 employers, has partnered with Coinbase Global to allow workers to invest up to 5 percent of their retirement money in various cryptocurrencies.
ForUsAll’s ground-breaking step is not universally appreciated.
“There is way too much volatility” in crypto to make it part of a retirement plan, Lew Minsky, president of the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association, said to the Wall Street Journal.
As an example, Bitcoin traded below $30,000 when this year began, raced to $60,000 in April, and then shed almost half its value in a matter of days.
The 401(k) industry is having “meaningful conversations” about opening retirement plans to a broader array of investments, including hedge funds and private equity, but no members of Minsky’s association now offer crypto as an alternative, he said.
However, crypto is making inroads.
Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab allow retirement investors to put money into companies that deal in crypto, such as Grayscale Investments; Fidelity is among several asset managers that have applied to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to offer exchange-traded crypto funds.
Adding a dash of crypto to retirement accounts could boost returns without adding significant risk and also could offer an inflation hedge, fans of digital money contend, according to the FT.