Elizabeth Warren Echoes Labor Dept. Concerns About Fidelity’s Plan for Bitcoin in 401(k) Retirement Plans
In a joint letter with Sen. Tina Smith, Warren asked Fidelity "about the appropriateness" of its plans.
May 5, 2022 at 3:35 p.m. UTCUpdated May 11, 2023 at 5:08 p.m. UTC
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U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joined the Labor Department in expressing concerns about Fidelity Investment's plan to offer bitcoin (BTC) in its 401(k) retirement plans.
- In a joint letter with Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Warren asked Fidelity "about the appropriateness" of its plans.
- Echoing the the Labor Department's concerns about bitcoin's volatility, the two described investing in crypto as "a risky and speculative gamble."
- "We are concerned that Fidelity would take these risks with millions of Americans' retirement savings," they said.
- They asked Fidelity to say how it assesses risks of volatility, fraud, theft and the evolving regulatory environment and how it plans to address them.
- Warren has previously expressed skepticism about the crypto industry. In March, she introduced a bill to block cryptocurrency firms from conducting business with sanctioned companies. There is broad consensus in the blockchain industry that crypto is not used to work around sanctions.
- She has also questioned mining firms over their energy usage and is a proponent of the U.S. developing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), seen by some as a challenge and means of restricting private cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.
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Jamie Crawley is a CoinDesk news reporter based in London.