ForUsAll Formally Launches Cryptocurrency-Capable 401(k)

ForUsAll has announced that 50 companies are now live with the Alt401(k) — staking out a claim to be the first to “deliver crypto in the 401(k).”
According to a press release, their retirement platform “…gives employees the freedom to invest part of their 401(k) in potentially higher-growth opportunities like cryptocurrency alongside traditional 401(k) mutual funds.”

The small business-focused recordkeeper — which is currently engaged in litigation with the Labor Department over the agency’s communications regarding cryptocurrency investments in defined contribution plans, such as 401(k)s — notes that more than 50 of ForUsAll’s customers have already enabled access to cryptocurrency investments for their participants, with over 100 more expected to be live in the coming weeks. Stacks Foundation, Compass Mining, NuHire and BOND are among the companies that have made the Alt401(k) available to their employees, according to the firm.

ForUsAll’s Alt401(k) retirement platform provides a menu of what is described as “low-cost mutual funds” alongside self-directed windows that allow employees to seek additional growth opportunities in the broader universe of stocks, ETFs, bonds — and now, of course, cryptocurrency.

How it Works 

Through the Alt401(k), employers provide employees “additional opportunities for diversification and potential growth” by adding self-directed windows alongside traditional mutual funds, according to a press release. Participants can choose to invest in the core menu of traditional funds or seek additional potential growth or diversification by investing in individual stocks, bonds, ETFs or cryptocurrency.

Employees can transfer up to 5% of their balances and ongoing contributions into a secure account that includes access to screened cryptocurrencies (e.g. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, etc.). ForUsAll says it closely monitors crypto allocations, alerting employees when their overall cryptocurrency allocation exceeds 5% of their portfolio. According to the firm, their crypto window contains a curated list of cryptocurrencies (such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana, etc.) that “make it through a robust and stringent vetting process designed to exclude assets with higher risks of fraud.”

But before you get there, the firm says it offers “risk-focused employee education, robust risk disclosures, and a quiz employees must pass before they can access the crypto window — and they must first acknowledge “comprehensive risk disclosures.” Once employees pass the quiz, they are able to transfer up to 5% of the current balance and 5% of ongoing contributions into the crypto window.

They also claim that by providing access to additional options via self-directed windows, employers preserve flexibility and employee choice “while avoiding fiduciary risk typically associated with adding more sophisticated options to the core 401(k).”

With $1.4 billion in assets under management, ForUsAll serves more than 80,000 retirement savers across over 500 plans.