Labor Department retirement-menu rule awaits White House review

A Labor Department final rule on how retirement-plan fiduciaries choose investment options for worker menus is under White House regulatory review, according to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs card for RIN 1210-AC38 [1]. OIRA is the White House office that reviews significant agency rules before they are published. The card shows the review was received Nov. 5, 2026 [1].

The OIRA title is "Fiduciary Duties In Selecting Designated Investment Alternatives." It does not mention cryptocurrency. The final rule text is not public on the card [1]. This is a final rule pending review, not a published final regulation.

How it works

The card names the Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration, sets the stage as "Final Rule," shows no legal deadline, and marks the action "Economically Significant: Yes" [1]. A fiduciary under ERISA is a person who manages a retirement plan's investments for participants. Designated investment alternatives are the menu options a plan offers workers who direct their own accounts.

The Unified Agenda abstract for the same RIN says the action implements Executive Order 14330 of Aug. 2, 2025, "Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors," and aims to clarify the Labor Department's position on alternative assets and the fiduciary process for offering asset-allocation funds that include them [2]. That agenda abstract does not itself define the final rule's operative text.

What the record shows

Table: Le Coin. Source: reginfo.gov OIRA card.

Proposal context, not confirmed final text: On March 31, 2026, EBSA published a proposed rule under the same title that would clarify, and provide a safe harbor for, a fiduciary's duty of prudence when selecting designated investment alternatives, "including asset allocation funds that include alternative assets," implementing section 3(c) of Executive Order 14330 [3]. That proposal's text discusses digital assets and cryptocurrencies among alternative-asset examples and related guidance history [3]. Those passages describe the March proposal. They are not confirmed language of the final rule now at OIRA.

The agenda timetable lists NPRM March 31, 2026, and a comment period ending June 1, 2026 [2].

The objection

Without the final Federal Register text, readers cannot know which proposal provisions survived. Linking the OIRA card to crypto rests on the March proposal and the executive order's alternative-assets frame, not on a final-rule title that names crypto.

The tell (Le Coin's view)

In Le Coin's view, the process fact that matters today is stage: a final rule is already at OIRA, while the only public crypto discussion still sits in last spring's proposal.

Sources

1. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Pending EO 12866 Regulatory Review, RIN 1210-AC38. https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eoDetails?rrid=1591871 (accessed about 12:13 p.m. ET, Nov. 6, 2026)
2. Unified Agenda / eAgenda, RIN 1210-AC38, Fiduciary Duties In Selecting Designated Investment Alternatives. https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?pubId=202510&RIN=1210-AC38 (accessed about 12:13 p.m. ET, Nov. 6, 2026)
3. Employee Benefits Security Administration, "Fiduciary Duties in Selecting Designated Investment Alternatives," proposed rule, 91 FR 16088 (March 31, 2026), document 2026-06178. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/31/2026-06178/fiduciary-duties-in-selecting-designated-investment-alternatives (accessed about 12:13 p.m. ET, Nov. 6, 2026)

Holding the Corner.

Not financial advice.