According to The Wall Street Journal, Fidelity Investment’s plan to incorporate bitcoins into 401(k) retirement plans is facing obstruction from the U.S. Department of Labor.
Earlier this week, Fidelity announced that it plans to offer bitcoin as an investment option for its 401(k) managed accounts. The company manages retirement accounts for 23,000 companies in the United States.
“We have serious concerns about what Fidelity has done,” Ali Khawar, acting assistant secretary of the Administration for employee security, told the Wall Street Journal.
Hawar emphasized the speculative nature of cryptocurrency and the hype surrounding the fear of missing out on profits as reasons to be concerned about investing in digital assets.
He also noted that cryptocurrency has “interesting uses,” but needs to “mature” before it can be placed in a retirement savings account.
“For the average American, the need for retirement savings in old age is significant. We’re not talking about millionaires and billionaires who have a bunch of other assets to use,” he said.