Trump Signs Executive Order Opening 401(k) Retirement Market To Crypto Investments
- Reference: 0178606680
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/08/07/2010210/trump-signs-executive-order-opening-401k-retirement-market-to-crypto-investments
- Source link:
> "The order directs the Securities and Exchange Commission to facilitate access to alternative assets for participant-directed defined-contribution retirement savings plans by revising applicable regulations and guidance," the White House official said on condition of anonymity. The order directs the Labor Secretary to consult with her counterparts at the Treasury Department, the SEC, and other federal "regulators to determine whether parallel regulatory changes should be made at those agencies," the official said. [...]
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> The new investment options carry lower disclosure requirements and are generally less easy to sell quickly for cash than the publicly traded stocks and bonds that most retirement funds rely on. Investing in them also tends to carry higher fees. In defined contribution plans, employees make contributions to their own retirement account, frequently with a matching contribution from their employer. The invested funds belong to the employee, but unlike a defined benefit pension plan, there is no guaranteed regular payout upon retirement.
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> Many private equity firms are hungry for the new source of cash that retail investors could offer after three years in which high interest rates shook their time-honored model of buying companies and selling them at a profit. Whatever results may come from Trump's order, it likely will not happen overnight, private equity executives say. Plaintiffs' lawyers are already preparing for lawsuits that could be filed by investors who do not understand the complexity of the new forms of investments.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/trump-sign-order-opening-way-alternative-assets-401ks-official-says-2025-08-07/
How is this an EO? (Score:3, Insightful)
Since when do financial regulations happen at the stroke of the president's pen? This is ridiculous. Is this some kind of shitcoin pump and dump attempt?
Re:How is this an EO? (Score:4, Insightful)
The whole presidency is nothing but cheap garbage trinkets and crypto. Everything from shoes to bibles to cell phones.
Re:How is this an EO? (Score:4, Insightful)
> The whole presidency is nothing but cheap garbage trinkets and crypto. Everything from shoes to bibles to cell phones.
More accurately, "His whole presidency ..." -- just saying. No one has devalued and debased the office more than Trump.
Re:How is this an EO? (Score:4, Insightful)
Could we just do away with EO's entirely? The seem more than a little outside the ideal of a government created with checks and balances in mind.
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If the SEC is under the executive branch then the president can do whatever he wants if it doesn't require a budget change. The next president can undo it just as easily.
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> Since when do financial regulations happen at the stroke of the president's pen? This is ridiculous. Is this some kind of shitcoin pump and dump attempt?
They didn't. From the article: The Securities and Exchange Commission must consider ways to facilitate access to alternative asset investments by participants in defined-contribution retirement plans," a summary of the order released by the White House said. It directs the Labor Secretary to consult with her counterparts at the Treasury Department, the SEC, and other federal regulators, and to "re-examine" previous guidance.
So the relevant agencies with the authority are deciding how to proceed.
Trump is ruling by Fiat (Score:3, Insightful)
And has been for some time. All of the systems designed to protect you have broken down fundamentally. All of them.
In project 2025 they call it shock and awe. The idea is is that they throw so much shit out there you can't sue over everything and even if you could the supreme Court is completely corrupt so you are probably going to lose. So far 60% of Trump's ludicrous executive orders have been upheld by the courts.
While America was freaking out over a trans girls in sports and woke and sjw and dei
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> Since when do financial regulations happen at the stroke of the president's pen? This is ridiculous. Is this some kind of shitcoin pump and dump attempt?
Growing up in Reagan's '80s America, I remember of being warned about central planning, and that economies are far too complex for any central committee or one person to plan. But that's exactly where we are 40 years later, with an elected dictator dictating what tariffs we pay on which goods and services, how we should invest our retirement savings, and how the Federal Reserve should conduct monetary policy.
Hi-ho-the-derry-o, / the scammer rooks the rube. (Score:3)
Aw, man. I was pushing for direct deposit of my paycheck to chips at the Bellagio. Maybe next time.
Can he do everything by executive order? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not an American, but I was always under the impression that the USA was run like other democracies where an elected assembly made decisions about what laws to pass and what taxes to collect and where money should be spent and in what quantities.
It seems like Trump is doing the whole thing as a one man show, and the elected assembly is doing.... nothing?
I genuinely don't understand this. It's not like any democracy I've ever heard of before; it's a monarchy?
I guess I'm wondering why nobody seemed to notice this before? Was it just that previous "monarch"/presidents did things more stealthily than Trump? Or was the system suddenly changed when he took office?
And if the system was indeed changed, how was that accomplished?
Re:Can he do everything by executive order? (Score:4, Insightful)
Executive orders are just supposed to be the President defining how the rest of the executive branch is supposed to carry out the laws created in the legislature.
For whatever reason, the compliant legislature and judiciary have decided that he can do whatever he wants. We thought the rules would save us, but that depends on the powerful having the will to enforce them.
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> Executive orders are just supposed to be the President defining how the rest of the executive branch is supposed to carry out the laws created in the legislature.
> For whatever reason, the compliant legislature and judiciary have decided that he can do whatever he wants. We thought the rules would save us, but that depends on the powerful having the will to enforce them.
This EO doesn't actually change anything. From the article: The Securities and Exchange Commission must consider ways to facilitate access to alternative asset investments by participants in defined-contribution retirement plans," a summary of the order released by the White House said. It directs the Labor Secretary to consult with her counterparts at the Treasury Department, the SEC, and other federal regulators, and to "re-examine" previous guidance.
So the order is for the relevant authorities to look in
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I think the OP was speaking more broadly than to just this particular EO.
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You sound like a Republican during the Obama administration.
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the republicans found a crack in the system. If they capture the supreme court, bring up a bunch of cases to the supreme court that would essentially change or nullify laws passed by congress, then they could essentially do an end run around the legislature. So they watered down a bunch of laws related to a presidents power and here we are. Since the legislature is controlled by the republicans, there is no pushback. There are some truly bat*%&^ crazy arguments being presented to the courts here and
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A combination of our congress being worthless scum over the period of a generation or two led to executive orders being the only way anything got done, then we get to Trump and suddenly even the few that used to shout about EOs being overreach are utterly silent. Almost enough to make you think the game was rigged all along, isn't it?
The courts have been taken over (Score:3)
As has congress. We have three branches of government and they have all fallen to fascism.
If you are not American then you need to be freaking the fuck out right now because as our empire collapses we will invade your country and we do not care if you have nuclear weapons.
Failing empires always expand their borders to loot other countries in order to keep things going long enough to keep the ruling class in power.
I suspect Europe allowed this to happen instead of interceding to block Russia's in
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> People do not understand that we are about to hand the nuclear launch codes over to a group of fanatics who belong to an apocalyptic religion. I don't think anyone really understands just how motherfucking crazy us Americans are. And by the time you find out it's going to be way too late
Time to watch Dr. Strangelove again.
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So that was at least a war getting out of hand.
What we in America are about to do is so much worse. We are literally going to hand nuclear weapons over to religious lunatics.
Back in the fifties people were actively trying to avoid nuclear war and at least a world war, although they were happy to do proxy wars and regional conflicts to score cheap oil in the Middle East and cheap labor in Asia.
This is something completely different and I think that's why people have a hard time wrapping their hea
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The simple answer is that much of what he does is just not legal but the elected assembly is eating out of his hand and unwilling to exercise their powers to stop him.
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Congress/senate controls the budget and can create laws, the president runs the government in accordance to the laws and budget given to him. Congress can make a law to limit what the president can do, but unless stated otherwise he is the CEO of the government.
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The president runs the Executive Branch, one of three theoretically co-equal branches with Congress (Legislative) and the courts (Judicial). Executive Orders (EOs) aren't laws, but they let the president direct federal agencies, though they can be overturned by courts or Congress (if it ever decides to act). EOs have been around forever, but recent presidents Obama, Trump, Biden have leaned harder on them, especially when Congress is gridlocked, corrupt, or broken. Trump didn't invent this playbook he just
To all Gen x that voted for Trump I just wanna say (Score:2)
Ha ha. You don't get to retire now.
This is Wall Street looting your retirement exactly the way I warned was going to happen years ago. I'm too lazy to dig up the comments but I'm sure some of you obsessive compulsives can. Or whichever jerk is running the llm that is copying my comments.
They're going to take everything from you. Mark my words half of the people reading this or going to be homeless in 6 years. The lucky ones will get the crash with one of their children.
They will use the healthca
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> Every single person over 55 I know has had to have surgeries and a mountain of pills to keep The strokes and heart attacks at Bay. Doesn't matter how thin or healthy they were human bodies start to break down.
You must know some pretty shitty people health-wise then. Or you are REALLY exaggerating, because I find that not to be true at all. Now you know one who hasn't had to have surgeries or take a mountain of pills. Human bodies may start to break down, but at 55? Nope. At 75 maybe but even that is not
An EO isnt a law (Score:2, Insightful)
Yet again Trump tries to change a law that is actually under control of Congress. No corporate lawyer/CFO is going to base their compensation rules on TACO meaningless pronouncements.
Ok then (Score:3)
How do you find funds that ensure that they will NOT invest in crypto?
Because crypto will eventually crash. It's based on nothing and to nothing it shall return.
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Index funds like an S&P500 ETF only invest in companies, not in commodities like gold, crypto, etc.
Of course, they can still invest in crypto companies. But they should remain a small part of the pie. Right now, the main one that comes to mind in that index is Coinbase.
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It shouldn't be too hard, they'll probably split them out in managed funds but then again with all the other economic damage maybe it won't matter too much either way.
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> How do you find funds that ensure that they will NOT invest in crypto?
Fund parameters are defined when it's created and can't change. If a fund wanted to "add" crypto, a new, similar fund would have to be created specifying its inclusion along with its percentage and other parameters. You'd then have to buy shares in that fund.
strange (Score:2)
i thought the relevant sections of US Code as to how these things operate were created by and modified by congress, not the president
I remember (Score:3)
During the Bush depression, J.P. Morgan was selling a product to its customers that it was simultaneously betting against. According to Jamie Dimon, these were "sophisticated" investors who knew the risks.
Can't wait for this to happen with all the real estate and crypto scams which will be foisted on investors retirement accounts.
The sky is falling, etc (Score:1)
Already there are posts here about how the sky is falling, you will lose all your money, etc, but it's just fear-mongering. Savers are already at liberty to put their money in whatever asset class or asset class mix their 401K provides. Expanding the available asset class choices in itself doesn't increase your personal risk.
Already legal (Score:2)
Any IRA could invest in ETFs that were 100% Crypto investments.
Trump continues to rack up 'wins' by doing things the Democrats already did, doing things he legally cannot do, and doing things that mean absolutely nothing.
Note, this order will probably encourage the Fed and the SEC to look into slightly more direct holdings of crypto, but functionally there is no difference.
crypto is bullshit (Score:2)
Cryto is a fake stock in a thing that doesn't generate any money. A stock is a share in the profits and cashflows of a business that makes money while providing goods or services. When you have a stock, you own part of that company. Crypto is a share in an idea where there is no business. There is virtually no regulation to protect you. Crypto is just trading on the hype, nothing else. It has no role in the real economy, it is not backed by a nation station, it does not generate cash.
Sure thing (Score:2)
Invest in nuclear power.
Real Estate? (Score:2)
Why would I want to invest in real estate in my 401k? The whole point is that I subtract the depreciation from the income and let the money grow tax deferred. The 401k already defers the tax, and I can't double-defer it.
Annnnndddd...it's gone (Score:2)
What's gone?
The money in your account. All gone. Your investment didn't do so well.
Time for some Boomers (Score:3, Interesting)
To lose even more of their retirements
Re:Time for some Boomers (Score:4, Interesting)
Crypto is a trip. It generates no yield, has very little real-world use (beyond facilitating crime), and is a negative sum game.
Crypto requires real money to operate (a lot of custom chips are playing "guess the number" simultaneously), so the net amount of money coming OUT of crypto is necessarily less than the amount of money being invested in crypto.
In other words, the average return on crypto has to be less than 1. You have benefited personally, but that has come at the expense of others who came after (analogous to a Ponzi scheme). Crypto generates no value, so you just got taken out of the trade with new money.
It's all very interesting.
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Crypto is demonstrably NOT a ponzi scheme though. It's decentralized, has no leader, nobody to collect money at "the top", and no rug to pull.
It's value is inherited from the same basis that gives fiat currency its value, which is to say, pure magical thought. No currency in history has held true value beyond the collective hallucination of people saying "This has value".
I have benefited at nobody's "expense", i simply saw the writing on the wall for the wild inflation fiat undergoes, and the true value
Re:Time for some Boomers (Score:5, Insightful)
> Crypto is demonstrably NOT a ponzi scheme though. It's decentralized, has no leader, nobody to collect money at "the top", and no rug to pull.
That is why I said "analogous to a Ponzi scheme". In fact, the creation of a "distributed Ponzi scheme" may be the true innovation of crypto.
And haven't you got the memo, crypto isn't a currency anymore, hasn't been for a while. Now it's a "store of value" and an "investment".
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There have been more rug pulls in Crypto than all of history in money schemes.
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"It's value is inherited from the same basis that gives fiat currency its value, which is to say, pure magical thought. No currency in history has held true value beyond the collective hallucination of people saying "This has value"." You can buy tangible things with a "hard" currency. Who does business in bitcoin, etherium or any other crypto? No one. The only thing you can do with a crypto is hold it or exchange it for real money that you can use to buy something. At some point the folks at the top (tha
Re:Time for some Boomers (Score:4, Insightful)
> Crypto is demonstrably NOT a ponzi scheme though. It's decentralized, has no leader, nobody to collect money at "the top", and no rug to pull.
None of those things are part of the definition of a Ponzi scheme.
A Ponzi scheme is where the value paid to earlier investors is paid by the money put in by later investors.
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Which bitcoin isn't as most people sold early or lost it. Other crypto with their ICOs are another story.
Jesus I hope chat GTP wrote that for you (Score:2)
Yes it is a Ponzi scheme. Being decentralized does not make it not a Ponzi scheme.
Ignoring the actual Ponzi schemes built around crypto, and there are thousands of them, if you just look at Bitcoin it can only survive through a combination of money laundering and a constant flow of new users buying into crypto with Fiat currencies.
Now crypto can survive off of the money laundering as long as we have corrupt governments. So for example America and Trump can keep crypto going for a long time with that
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I don't always agree with you but in this I do. It's absolutely a Ponzi scheme.
Your bitcoin increases in value only when you convience other people to buy bitcoin, then you can sell your bitcoin to receive your payment.
It decreases the value of their bitcoin when you do it. It's like if the ponzi leader asked you to sell a product, and I'll give you a token for each one you sell, and it's value is based on how much money you get other people to put into the tokens...oh wait, that's exactly what they did.
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> I have benefited at nobody's "expense", i simply saw the writing on the wall for the wild inflation fiat undergoes, and the true value of a truly 'hard' currency like bitcoin, and i pitched in what i could afford to lose, and that became enough money to make me financially independent, instead of a wage slave
You haven't technically benefited yet because you can't really use bitcoin for anything. It's just one and zeros until you cash it out, which is when some other fool gives you real U.S. dollars in exchange for those one and zeros.
Sure, it's "investment" in the sense that you bought some with the hope it would later be worth more. But it is an extremely risky investment because there's no there there - that is, when you invest in a company, they at least have tangible property, intellectual property, etc.
Crypto less Stable than Fiat (Score:2)
> No currency in history has held true value beyond the collective hallucination of people saying "This has value".
Not really. Many currencies used to be on the gold standard - UK notes still have/had written on them the phrase "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of X pounds" although it is only there for historical reasons and you can't turn up at the Bank of England and demand your gold any more! In addition to this, fiat currencies are backed by the government that issued them and so their value is also based on the power of that state to control and affect our lives.
However, bitcoin is based exactly a
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Completely untrue. flat currency gets its value in that it is backed by the government and economy of a nation state. the value of crypto is only what someone down stream is willing to pay for it. Crypto produces nothing, nor does it have intrinsic value. Dollars have intrinsic value in that the dollar is the global reserve currency. Crypto consumes energy to create, increasing the cost on energy to power your home, run factories, and polluting the planet while doing so. You can lie to yourself becaus
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It may not meet the technical definition, but any scheme in which early adopters benefit from the losses of later victims is, morally, a ponzi scheme, same as nearly all MLM businesses. When the only way for later joiners to make their money back is to recruit new victims, it's a ponzi scheme.
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> Crypto is a trip. It generates no yield, has very little real-world use (beyond facilitating crime)
Not necessarily, I have a friend that was mining it back in 2008 that managed to buy a TON of gold and silver with it.
That said, he did so to convert it to something of (in his words) "actual value" and he sure as shit didn't 'retire at 40' as reentering the workforce at 60 (probably at Walmart) would have been a bummer. As he put it "Millionaire means millions of dollars, not millions in play-dough"
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If you were that confidant you would have taken out a loan from your own 401 and bought crypto with it. The penalties/iinterest would have been nothing compared to your gains.
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In a few months, we'll undoubtedly start seeing the "Joe was planning to retire in 2026 - but that was before he lost his life savings" stories.
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Most retired boomers converted their 401K's to IRA's. Do you really want your ex-company being the custodian of your retirement account? Why pay custodial fees?
Trump would have to come for IRA's and make it allowable to invest in these questionable investments.
I think the bigger fear for retirees is Private Equity buying up a majority of the publicly traded companies. This would crash the index funds.
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To enhance el Bunko's shitcoin and his other crime family crypto "investments".