Fidelity to offer Bitcoin exposure to 401(k) plan holders later this year

The meteoric rise of cryptos such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) last year has minted a new set of millionaires and made them even more popular with investors. A U.S.-based retirement plan provider has revealed plans of allowing 401(k) retirement saving account holders to invest in Bitcoin (BTC).

Fidelity Investments plans to allow investors to put Bitcoin into their 401(k) retirement savings accounts, according to The Wall Street Journal. If the company’s plan pushes through, it would be the first major retirement-plan provider to offer such a crypto option.

Fidelity expects to launch the new Bitcoin retirement investment plan later this year. It will allow the over 23,000 companies that tapped Fidelity to manage their retirement plans to offer Bitcoin investment options to their employees.

Employers who want to include Bitcoin as an option for their employee’s retirement accounts could set a maximum cap of up to 20 percent of their retirement portfolios to manage volatility concerns. While employees might not be able to invest their entire retirement funds in BTC, Fidelity’s new product would still allow them, especially first-time investors, to gain exposure to Bitcoin without having to open a separate account on an exchange.

Fidelity’s decision to offer Bitcoin exposure to 401(k) plan holders is the result of client demand. “We started to hear a growing interest from plan sponsors, organically, as to how could Bitcoin or how could digital assets be offered in a retirement plan,” Dave Gray, Fidelity Investments’ head of workplace retirement offerings and platforms, said. “We fully expect that cryptocurrency is going to shape the way future generations think about investing for the near term and long term.”

The company is already in talks with several employers about the new Bitcoin option. Unsurprisingly, MicroStrategy has already agreed to the BTC investment plans. The business intelligence firm is known as the top publicly-listed company with the largest Bitcoin holdings.

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