Bitcoin is down more than 16% this year, but that hasn’t dampened enthusiasm for the asset.
The nation’s largest plan administrator said later this year, the 23,000 companies it manages retirement plans for will be able to offer their employees bitcoin as an investment choice.
“To owners, bitcoin’s current price represents just a dip, not a permanent loss of value,” wrote Charlotte Principato, financial services analyst at Morning Consult.
Plan sponsors are legally responsible for vetting investment options offered to employees to ensure they are “prudent,” according to the Department of Labor, which regulates company-sponsored retirement plans.
Cryptocurrency and crypto-related investments are too volatile and too unregulated, critics say, especially for retirement funds, that people need to live out their golden years.
Cryptocurrencies can be lost forever from simply losing or forgetting a password or theft from digital wallets, the Department of Labor said in a memo last month.
Medora Lee is a money, markets, and personal finance reporter at USA Today TODAY.