401(k) crypto: can your 401(k) hold crypto or bitcoin?

A 401(k) is the retirement savings plan you get through work, paid in from your paycheck. Crypto means digital money such as bitcoin, bought and held online, and its price can swing a lot.

You have 4 paths, and each suits a different set of circumstances:

• A crypto window or bitcoin account inside your workplace plan, if your employer turns one on
• Crypto funds bought through a brokerage window in your plan
• A rollover of an old 401(k) into a crypto IRA
• A solo 401(k), if you work for yourself with no employees

It depends on whether your employer has turned that option on. A workplace plan holds just the investments your employer picks, and two providers, ForUsAll and Fidelity, let an employer add crypto inside the plan itself.

ForUsAll is available only when your employer uses ForUsAll and switches the window on. The Fidelity account becomes an option only when your employer puts it into the plan. What it costs shows up in the yearly notice your plan sends out listing the charges on each investment, per Fidelity's launch notice.

A brokerage window works as an add-on account within a 401(k) that opens the door to funds outside the plan's standard menu. Not every employer offers one, so look at your plan documents to find out.

When a window exists, it might allow a spot crypto ETF. That kind of fund owns coins and tracks what they cost, and its shares change hands the way a stock does. ETF stands for exchange-traded fund. You hold shares of the fund rather than the coins, as Fidelity explains.

Yes. An IRA is a retirement account you set up on your own, separate from work, and a crypto IRA is simply one that's able to hold coins. Moving 401(k) money into one is called a rollover. Savings sitting in a plan from an old job can move whenever you like. Savings in the plan at your current job can move only when that plan permits transfers during your employment.

With a direct rollover, the old plan sends the money straight over to the new IRA company. The IRS confirms that no tax gets withheld when it happens this way. If your 401(k) money went in before income tax was taken out, a direct rollover to a traditional IRA keeps it untaxed until you withdraw it. A traditional IRA is the usual kind: you pay the tax when you take the money out.

When the plan sends the money to you instead, it holds back 20% and forwards it to the IRS as a prepayment on your federal tax. The IRS is the federal tax agency. From there you get 60 days to deposit the whole sum, that 20% included, into an IRA, according to the IRS.

Taking the cash out before age 59½ works differently. It generally brings an added 10% tax over and above income tax. A Roth IRA works the other way: you pay the tax as money goes in, and later withdrawals can be tax-free. Shifting pre-tax savings into a Roth IRA also raises this year's tax bill, since a Roth gets taxed at the moment money goes in.

Crypto IRA companies take 1.0% to 2.0% on every purchase, while their annual fees differ widely. Here is what you'd pay at each company for a single purchase and for holding afterward, at two sample balances.

On a phone you see the $10,000 columns. For any other amount, use the crypto IRA comparison.

Every company also takes a cut when you sell, ranging from 1.0% up to 2.0% of the sale amount. Swan, Choice, and BitcoinIRA each set a $20 monthly minimum, which puts their yearly fee at $240 or more even when the balance is small.

A one-participant 401(k) is for a business owner who has no employees, or for that owner plus a spouse, according to the IRS. Some providers let the plan open its own account on a crypto exchange, a website where crypto is bought and sold, and buy crypto in the plan's name. No custodian (a company that holds the account for you) sits in between.

The four solo 401(k) providers we compare charge $499 to $999 to set up and $125 to $480 a year. They are Nabers Group (Solo401k.com), My Solo 401k, Rocket Dollar and IRA Financial. Some allow the plan to hold its own account on an exchange. Others give you checkbook control, which means the plan keeps its own bank account and you approve each trade on your own, with no need to go through a custodian every time.

The Labor Department, on May 28, 2025, pulled back its 2022 caution about crypto in 401(k) plans. That new release states the department neither endorses nor disapproves of crypto.

The president signed an executive order on August 7, 2025, placing actively managed funds that invest in digital assets among the alternative assets for 401(k) savers. An actively managed fund is one whose managers choose what it buys. An executive order is the President's instruction to federal agencies and does not change the law by itself; digital assets means crypto, and alternative assets are investments beyond the usual stock and bond funds. It directed the Labor Secretary to revisit the guidance within 180 days. What your own plan offers still comes down to your employer.

If you would rather hear it from a person, call 844.960.3682. A retirement specialist will walk you through the options open to you. It's information, not investment, tax or retirement advice, and the decision stays yours.