The US based asset management firm Digital Asset Investment Management (DAiM) is rolling out the country’s foremost employer-sponsored 401(k) retirement schemes that utilize Bitcoin. As per a media news release, DAiM will function as advisor and custodian in assisting enterprises “create a 401(k) plan that offers several recommended model portfolios of varying risk to traditional assets and allocation of up to 10% to Bitcoin.”
Bitcoin will be stored in cold wallet owned and administered by Gemini Trust, paving way for DAiM to move Bitcoin to ex-employees who have moved out of partaking firms. DAiM’s crypto friendly measures are in accordance with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, and employers will be able to offer it by next year.
Since 2018, the US citizens are allowed to hold cryptocurrencies in their personal retirement accounts, brokerage accounts and 401(k) rollovers, following the tax imposition by Internal Revenue Service on Bitcoin. However, as DAiM COO Adam Pokornicky points out, “It’s been impossible to offer Bitcoin inside actually company-based plans until now.”
“The difference is, you can take an old 401k plan and convert it to an IRA when you leave a job or employer to invest in Bitcoin, but it’s never been possible to invest in Bitcoin while working at a company without taking a penalty or quitting your job until now.“
Pokornicky stated that the conventional wealth administration sectors have been “slow to warm up to Bitcoin,” pointing there are “barely any investment advisors offering licensed and regulated access to Bitcoin directly in brokerage and retirement accounts.”
He ascribes the industry’s hesitation to “serious regulatory red tape” around crypto abidence, stressing that it took “almost a full year of slow-building” before DAiM was endorsed for providing its employer-sponsored facilities:
“As an advisor, you can’t just start managing and advising for Bitcoin because you want to. There’s an enormous amount of work and compliance that needs to be done to develop operational frameworks, infrastructure, and strategic partnerships that need to be married together to be compliant in every state you operate.”
Pokornicky also highlighted the sharp rise in demand for Bitcoin from retirement funds, and said “We’ve seen most demand from individuals between the ages of 28-45.”
