Trump wants to include crypto and gold in the 401(k) retirement plan.

President Donald Trump is planning to issue an executive order to allow alternative investments — including cryptocurrencies, gold, private equity, and other non-traditional assets — to be included in the national retirement market, according to disclosures from three sources familiar with the matter as reported by the Financial Times.

If the order is issued, federal regulatory agencies will have to review the current legal barriers that are preventing alternative assets from being included in professionally managed retirement funds, such as 401(k) accounts – the most popular retirement savings vehicle in the United States.

This move comes amid the Trump administration and several federal agencies gradually loosening their stance on allowing cryptocurrencies to appear in retirement investment plans. At the end of May, the U.S. Department of Labor withdrew previous guidance that warned fund managers to "exercise extreme caution" when including crypto in their investment portfolios — aiming to reverse what they deemed to be an "overreach" under the Biden administration.

Legislatively, Congress has also made efforts to expand the retirement investment portfolio to include cryptocurrencies. In 2022, Representative Peter Meijer proposed the "Retirement Savings Modernization Act" to amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to allow digital assets, venture capital, and private equity to be included in the eligible investment portfolio. However, this bill has not been formally voted on in the House.

As of March 2025, Americans hold approximately $8.7 trillion in 401(k) retirement accounts, according to data from the (Investment Company Institute). With the 401(k) model, workers are allowed to set aside a portion of their salary into a tax-advantaged investment account, and often receive additional contributions from their employer. It is equivalent to contributing to social insurance in Vietnam.

Some states in the United States have outpaced the federal government in integrating digital assets into retirement funds. In March 2025, the state of North Carolina introduced two bills allowing a maximum allocation of 5% of the value of certain retirement funds to cryptocurrency. The state of Michigan also revealed a $6.6 million investment in the ARKB Bitcoin ETF and $10 million in the Ethereum ETF. Meanwhile, the Wisconsin State Investment Board stated that it holds $163 million worth of spot Bitcoin ETFs.

Han Xin