US Department of Labor (DOL) It has been officially revoked A 2022 compliance release prevented trustees from offering crypto investment options on their 401(k) retirement plans, according to a May 28th announcement.
The decision retracted the Compliance Support Release No. 2022-01 and directed the use of “extreme caution” before including digital assets in the retirement planning investment menu.
Neutrality has been restored
The sector is now returning to a neutral stance that complies with the statutory language of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which manages private sector retirement plans.
In a statement, employee benefits management is “extreme care.” Standards introduced in 2022 There is no legal basis for the law and it departs from an approach based on previous principles of the department.
U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez Deremar said:
“We’ve been making this oversight and make it clear that investment decisions should be made by the trustees rather than by the DC bureaucrat.”
The department’s announcement does not approve or disapprove crypto as a retirement plan asset, but it is clear that investment discretion belongs to the trustee under ERISA.
The statement reiterates that the trustee must still comply with the legal obligation to act in the best interest of the planning participants. Still, the decision must follow a consistent valuation framework, rather than asset-specific attentional instructions.
Starting from Elisa’s precedent
On March 10, 2022, the department issued a compliance notice warning planning fiduciaries against adding planned investment options without increasing oversight.
The document flagged cryptographic volatility, management complexity, and regulatory uncertainty as a basis for attention, and applied thresholds asserted by critics to exceed the fiduciary obligation standards defined under ERISA.
Historically, the department maintained a neutral attitude towards a particular asset class and instead required trustees to evaluate options based on risks, costs, and suitability associated with planning goals.
The 2022 release forked from its tradition by encrypting the special attention given to trustees despite the ERISA requirements that they act “with care, skill, prudence and hard work under the circumstances of the time.”
The revised guidance for the department confirms that investment decisions must be context-specific and rooted in a careful review of all relevant factors.
By eliminating compliance release 2022-01, the department will reestablish a unified application of the contracting principles under ERISA, allowing retirement plan managers to evaluate crypto investment options on a case-by-case basis in line with existing legal obligations.
