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U.S. Department of Labor Reverses 2022 Guidance That Blocked Digital Assets From 401(k) Plans
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is scrapping a mandate in its 2022 guidance that prevented digital assets from being included in 401(k) retirement plans.
In a new press release, the DOL says it’s rolling back its 2022 compliance release, which previously instructed institutions to forgo using crypto assets as options for 401(k) plans.
In 2022, the DOL warned fiduciaries to use “extreme care” before offering digital assets as options for retirement plans, language that was considered unusual at the time as the agency historically has taken a neutral approach toward the subject, according to the press release.
According to U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the DOL is rolling back the government overreach created by the Biden Administration.
Says Chavez-DeRemer,
“The Biden administration’s department of labor made a choice to put their thumb on the scale. We’re rolling back this overreach and making it clear that investment decisions should be made by fiduciaries, not D.C. bureaucrats.”
The DOL says it’s neither endorsing nor disapproving of employers who choose to include crypto assets and notes that its reasoning extends to other crypto-related products, such as derivatives.
Previously, the DOL said it had “serious concerns” about people’s retirement funds being tied up in crypto due to “significant risks of fraud, theft, and loss.”
@ Newshounds News™
Source: DailyHodl
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Russia Allows Banks to Offer Crypto Products to Accredited Investors
Russian banks have started rolling out crypto investment products tied to the price of Bitcoin following a greenlight from the central bank.
The Bank of Russia has permitted financial institutions to offer certain cryptocurrency-based financial instruments to accredited investors.
Russian banks are now free to provide qualified investors with a range of crypto products, including crypto derivatives, securities, and other digital financial assets tied to crypto prices, the central bank announced on May 28.
A key stipulation, however, is that these products must not involve the “actual delivery of cryptocurrencies,” the Bank of Russia emphasized.
The announcement came alongside the Bank of Russia reporting a 51% increase in crypto asset inflows by Russian residents in the first quarter of 2025, totaling 7.3 trillion rubles ($81.5 billion).
T-Bank Among the First to Offer Bitcoin Investment Products
Some major Russian banks started rolling out cryptocurrency investment products immediately following the Bank of Russia’s announcement.
T-Bank (formerly Tinkoff Bank), one of the largest commercial banks in Russia, announced on May 29 the offering of digital financial assets (DFA) tied to Bitcoin.
“The tool allows you to invest in cryptocurrency in rubles through a familiar application — safely and within the legal framework of the Russian Federation, without opening an account on a crypto exchange and difficulties with protecting your wallet,” the bank said.
T-Bank’s new “smart asset” offering is issued through the Russian state-backed tokenization platform Atomyze and is available exclusively to accredited investors.
Direct Crypto Investments Still Not Encouraged
While greenlighting local lenders to offer crypto products, the Russian central bank still maintains a restrictive approach regarding direct cryptocurrency investment.
“The Bank of Russia still does not recommend financial institutions and their clients to invest directly in cryptocurrencies,” the Bank of Russia said in a statement.
The central bank also noted the ongoing government discussions on the potential launch of an experimental regime that would allow certain investors to trade crypto assets like Bitcoin directly.
Russia’s Estimated CEX Holdings Are at $9.2 Billion
In its latest financial stability review, the Bank of Russia estimated Russians’ crypto holdings on centralized exchanges (CEXs) at 827 billion rubles ($9.2 billion).
According to the authority, Bitcoin is leading Russians’ CEX holdings with a 62% share, with Ether (ETH) following at 22%. Stablecoins like Tether (USDT) and Circle’s USDC ranked third with a share of 15.9%.
Some local crypto enthusiasts observed that the actual figure of cryptocurrency held by Russians is significantly bigger than the estimated CEX holdings reported by the Bank of Russia.
“I know that [Pavel] Durov and [Alexey] Bilyuchenko alone have more money in their wallets than this amount,” Sergey Mendeleev, founder of the digital settlement exchange Exved, wrote on his Telegram channel. He hinted that Russians hold much bigger crypto amounts in wallets and decentralized exchanges.
@ Newshounds News™
Source: Cointelegraph
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