The United States Department of Labor (DOL) officially submitted its final draft rule regarding alternative investments in retirement plans to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) on Thursday, November 5, 2026. The submission of the document, identified by code 1210-AC38, marks the final review phase before the regulation is officially enacted nationwide. The draft is categorized as economically significant due to the scale of its impact on the governance of US workers’ retirement savings.
The regulation is officially titled Fiduciary Duties In Selecting Designated Investment Alternatives. Through this draft, the DOL makes it easier for 401(k) plan administrators to include digital assets, private equity, and real estate in workers’ retirement portfolios. The process leading to this final draft has been underway since earlier this year: the proposed rule was cleared in a White House review on March 24, 2026, published in the Federal Register on March 31, and opened for public comment through June 1.
How the Safe Harbor Rule Protects Administrators
The primary pillar of this new framework rests on providing safe harbor protections for retirement plan managers under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Under this federal law, plan administrators bear fiduciary responsibility for every participant investment option. The presence of a safe harbor mechanism ensures that administrators satisfy their duty of prudence under the law when screening alternative instruments for workers’ portfolios.
In establishing its prudence guidelines, the DOL adopted a neutral approach that does not discriminate between asset classes. The regulator neither bans nor grants preferential treatment to specific instruments. Instead, portfolio managers must evaluate each product across six primary factors: historical performance, fee structures, liquidity, fair asset valuation, comparison benchmarks, and the complexity of the product offered.
Potential $216 Billion Inflow from a 2 Percent Allocation
The market scale affected by this policy is reflected in the total size of retirement funds in the United States. Data from the Investment Company Institute as of June 30, 2026, shows that total assets under management in US 401(k) accounts reached $10.8 trillion.
With such a massive capital base, even a small percentage shift in portfolio allocation would carry a tangible liquidity impact. Market calculations indicate that if just 2% of those total retirement assets were allocated to crypto, the digital asset industry could receive up to $216 billion in fresh liquidity inflows. This capital influx has the opportunity to materialize because the DOL rule is specifically designed to facilitate the inclusion of digital assets alongside private equity and real estate.
Final Review Stage Before Nationwide Rollout
The submission of the draft to OIRA marks the final review phase before rule 1210-AC38 is officially enacted. The provision does not mandate that workers allocate funds into crypto, but rather offers legal clarity for administrators seeking to offer it as a portfolio option. For workers and 401(k) fund managers, the final investment decision now hinges on the evaluation of the six prudence factors established by the government.
Reported by crypto.news.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
