华盛顿重写 40​​1(k) 规则，华尔街预计将开放 10 万亿美元

The federal government is preparing to redraw the boundaries of America's retirement accounts. The US Department of Labor has proposed a new rule clarifying how 401(k) fiduciaries (the employer committees legally responsible for plan investment decisions) should evaluate so-called “alternative” assets, including private equity, private credit, and…digital assets. The proposal came directly out of an executive order President Donald Trump signed in August 2025, directing the Labor Department to expand retirement plan access to alternative assets. It establishes a documented process, essentially a compliance checklist with legal teeth, and offers a “safe harbor” to employers who follow it carefully: a layer of protection if participants later challenge the decision. Related Reading House lawmakers urge SEC to implement Trump's crypto 401k executive order The bipartisan coalition expressed support for expanding access to alternative assets to help 90 million Americans secure dignified retirement outcomes. Sep 22, 2025 · Gino Matos Why this matters: The proposal leaves Bitcoin and private funds out of retirement plans for now. It establishes the legal framework employers would rely on when adding alternative assets later. Wall Street is treating this as the opening phase of a much larger distribution battle. Americans held $10.1 trillion in 401(k) plans alone at the end of 2025, according to the Investment Company Institute . Any rule that changes what can be offered inside those plans doesn't need to move fast to shift a great deal of money. Even a tiny little change in how a fraction of that capital is allocated would represent one of the largest expansions of the alternative investment market in a generation, and the asset managers who run private equity and private credit funds have understood this for years. The proposal doesn't force any plan to add new investments and doesn't label any asset class as specifically approved or endorsed. It says, in carefully neutra