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Florida Rep. Donalds Put Up New Bill to Oppose Compliance Report Restricting Crypto

By Natalie Wu | May 28, 2022

Florida Republican Representative Byron Donalds reportedly proposed the “Financial Freedom Act” to stop the U.S. Department of Labor from putting a limit on the investments vehicles available in Americans’ 401(k) retirement plans.

Specifically, The Financial Freedom Act – the companion to Alabama Senato Tommy Tuberville’s May 5 Senate bill and proposed to the US House of Representatives – was released as a response to a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) compliance report on March 10th, which posed objecting ideas to the inclusion of crypto in the 401(k) retirement plans. 

Particularly, That report issued warnings that the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration “expects to conduct an investigative program aimed at plans that offer participant investments in cryptocurrencies and related products, and to take appropriate action to protect the interests of plan participants and beneficiaries with respect to these investments.”

The DOL report drew out a reaction from financial services and crypto heavyweight Fidelity Investments, expressing objecting attitude towards to what it viewed as unclear language and positions, which fell far from the original goal of the law which led to the creation of the 401(k) program.

It put up a request for the DOL to provide clarification to the report or withdraw it. A fortnight following said request, Fidelity teamed up with a few smaller-scale financial services entities to provide Bitcoin 401(k) plan to holders.

“Whether or not you believe in the long-term economic prospects of cryptocurrency, the choice of what you invest your retirement savings in should be yours — not that of the government.” Tuberville additionally remarked. 

Via a press release on Twitter announcing the arrival of his bill, Donalds claimed that the DOL was placing a restriction on investors’ choices for their retirement accounts, and characterized the Biden administration as mounting “a far-reaching and sweeping endeavor to centralize power in Washington” via the DOL report.

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