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The crypto market jumped Thursday on excitement that bitcoin and other digital assets could soon be coming to 401(k) retirement plans.
President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order that would allow 401(k) accounts to invest in alternative assets, including private equity, real estate and digital assets, CNBC has confirmed.
The price of bitcoin climbed around 1% to reclaim the $116,000 level for the first time since July 31. Ether rose almost 4%, also retaking a one-week high.
Crypto-linked stocks were trading off their highs as the stock market rally fizzled in afternoon trading. Coinbase and Galaxy Digital were last higher by 1.5% each, and ether treasury stock Bitmine Immersion gained almost 4%.
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Bitcoin (BTC) 1-month
Widespread inclusion of bitcoin in Americans’ retirement accounts has long been viewed as a holy grail for crypto adoption. Conceivably, it would make the cryptocurrency a mainstay of U.S. financial infrastructure, expand access and encourage longer-term investing in the asset. The retirement market is currently worth $43 trillion, almost $9 trillion of which is held in 401(k) plans. The crypto market cap is nearly $4 trillion today.
“That’s a monster pool of capital. What we’re seeing … [is] the aperture of being able to buy crypto being widened and widened, [and] more avenues bringing people into the tent,” Galaxy CEO Michael Novogratz told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday.
“When it becomes commonplace — when you can do it at the place you’ve already been doing business with, if its Fidelity or T. Rowe Price or whoever it is — you just pull more people into this ecosystem,” he added.
Fidelity in 2022 became the first retirement plan provider to offer investors the option to put bitcoin in their 401(k)s, but the service hinges on employer adoption. Adoption since then has been low given that year’s rate hike-driven bear market, lingering regulatory risk from the previous administration, as well as general caution and skepticism from investors.
The executive order, first reported by Bloomberg, is the latest in a series of efforts under the Trump administration to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world.” In July, he signed stablecoin legislation known as the GENIUS Act into the first official U.S. crypto law.