U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters could soon return to the helm of the House Financial Services Committee if Democrats perform as expected in the November elections, and she is calling for the Labor Department to back away from a proposal that would encourage 401(k) retirement plan administrators to offer alternative investments, including cryptocurrency.
In March, the Labor Department proposed a rule to implement what President Donald Trump had ordered: that people’s 401(k) accounts be open to investments in private equity, private credit, real estate, commodities and digital assets. Waters filed a detailed 11-page comment letter with the department this week, requesting that the idea be withdrawn.
“It is inconsistent for the department to bless digital assets as suitable for the retirement savings of ordinary Americans, while the [Securities and Exchange Commission] “You are still building the investor protection regime intended to make those same assets safe for everyday investors,” Waters argued in the letter. “The danger is not limited to the volatility of individual tokens, however serious that may be. “It reflects a broader deterioration across the digital asset ecosystem, where trading activity, developer engagement and user engagement have collapsed.”
