(Reuters) – Fidelity Investments will allow investors to add a bitcoin account to their 401(k) retirement savings and investment plans, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
The 23,000 companies that use Fidelity to administer their retirement plans will have the option to add bitcoin to their plans later this year, according to the WSJ report https://on.wsj.com/39b0sbX.
Boston-based Fidelity has become the first major retirement plan provider that has allowed investors to add a bitcoin account to their 401(k)s, permitting them to allocate as much as 20% of their nest eggs to bitcoin, according to the report. That threshold, however, could be lowered by plan sponsors, the report added.
Fidelity did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside business hours.
Dave Gray, head of workplace retirement offerings and platforms at Fidelity, said the plan will initially be limited to bitcoin, but expects other digital assets to be made available in the future.
The development comes after U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order in March requiring the government to assess the risks and benefits of creating a central bank digital dollar, as well as other cryptocurrency issues.
(Reporting by Vishal Vivek in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
