At a glance

  • RegInfo.gov shows a pending EO 12866 review for RIN 1210-AC38, received on 5 Nov 2026.
  • The listed title is “Fiduciary Duties In Selecting Designated Investment Alternatives.” Agency/subagency is DOL / EBSA. Stage is Final Rule. Economically Significant is Yes. Legal Deadline is None.

Logging a package at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs does not publish a rule and does not tell employers they must put bitcoin in a 401(k). It means White House review of a Labor Department final draft has started.

What the federal records say

The EO details page matches the Unified Agenda entry for RIN 1210-AC38. The agenda abstract says the action implements Executive Order 14330 (2 Aug 2025), “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors,” which directed Labor to clarify fiduciary process when offering asset-allocation funds that hold alternative assets under ERISA.

Crypto Briefing, citing Bloomberg Law and the same RegInfo trail, places the arrival on 5 Nov and notes the March proposal’s safe-harbor design: fiduciaries who weigh six factors — performance, fees, liquidity, valuation, benchmarks and complexity — would get legal protection when selecting alternatives that can include crypto, private equity and real estate. Those six factors describe the proposal. Whether the final text kept them is exactly what the unpublished OIRA package would settle — and what outsiders cannot yet read.

The rule is not a mandate to offer crypto. Even under the March framing, plans would remain free to stick to traditional menus; the fight is over process and litigation risk when they do not.

Where it sits

This is a different docket from the SEC crypto broker-dealer draft also at OIRA (RIN 3235-AN48, proposed-rule stage, received 3 Nov). One is Exchange Act broker-dealer capital and custody; the other is ERISA fiduciary process for participant-directed retirement menus.

It also lands after midterms shifted House control, a backdrop CryptoWatchDesk covered when Democrats took the House and the Clarity Act path came into focus. OIRA review is an executive-branch step under existing ERISA authority; it is not a vote on market-structure legislation.

What happens next

Watch RegInfo for completion of the EO 12866 review, any logged EO 12866 meetings, and — only after DOL publishes — the Federal Register final rule, effective date and any changes from the March proposal. Until that text appears, the confirmed facts are the 5 Nov receipt, the title, the final-rule stage, the economically significant flag, and the agenda’s link to EO 14330.

This article is for information only and is not investment advice.