WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump issued an executive order Thursday aimed at opening up workers’ retirement accounts to investments in private equity and risky digital assets.
The White House billed the move as giving working people’s 401(k) accounts the same access to exotic financial instruments that rich people enjoy.
“More than 90 million Americans participate in employer-sponsored defined-contribution plans, and most of those are currently restricted from investing in alternative assets, unlike wealthy investors and retirement plans for government workers,” the White House said in a release.
Crypto skeptics decried the move, the latest from a president who champions crypto-friendly policy while himself promoting his own crypto ventures.
“Stuffing private equity, crypto, and other ‘alternative assets’ into 401(k)s is about propping up scams and bailing out an industry that’s run out of buyers — and it’s being done at the expense of Americans’ retirements everywhere,” said Helaine Olen, managing editor at the American Economic Liberties Project, a nonprofit opposed to concentrated corporate power.
