Alternative 401(k) Product Offers In-Plan Cryptocurrency Investment via Coinbase Institutional

On Monday, the San Francisco-based retirement plan provider for small to medium-sized businesses, Forusall, announced the launch of an alternative 401(k) plan that offers in-plan cryptocurrency access. According to the alt 401(k) investment option, Forusall is working with Coinbase Institutional as its retirement plan partner.

Forusall and Coinbase’s Institutional Arm Offer Crypto-Infused Alt 401(k) Plan

Forusall, the “one-click” retirement provider founded in 2012, has revealed that digital currency investors can now leverage the company’s alt 401(k) investment option in order to obtain tax-advantages from crypto asset investments.

The company Forusall claims to manage plans for over 600,000 employees from companies like Target, Coca Cola and Citigroup. By November 2019, Forusall was advising employees with over $1 billion in assets. The company’s focus on crypto assets applies to the alt 401(k) product, which can also leverage environmentally focused funds, mutual funds, and real estate.

“For too long, too many Americans haven’t had the same access to alternative investments that wealthy and professional investors have had. Our mission is to provide every American with the tools necessary to build a brighter financial future, and making these alternatives more readily available is a key step towards that,” Jeff Schulte, CEO of Forusall explained during the announcement.

The company’s website also mentions growing crypto asset interest and highlights that 60% of institutional investors believe in investing in crypto assets. “6 out of 10 institutional investors feel that digital assets have a place in their portfolio and 36% are already using it,” the Forusall website notes.

Alt 401(k) Plan Provides 5% Allocation With a Choice Between 50 Crypto Assets

Forusall’s announcement on Monday details that employers can choose to add the crypto option and employees can direct up to 5% of their portfolio into digital assets. The plan works with Coinbase Institutional, so employees that leverage Forusall’s alt 401(k) investment option can choose from 50 unique crypto assets. The retirement plan provider further said that the company monitors the crypto allocations and employees can always rebalance their portfolios into different assets.

The lead at Coinbase’s institutional crypto arm, Brett Tejpaul, explained during Forusall’s alt 401(k) announcement that expanding digital assets to mainstream retirement plans will broaden the playing field.

“When we created our institutional platform, our initial focus was making cryptocurrency accessible to institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals,” Tejpaul remarked. “The next evolution is to broaden our reach and we are thrilled to be working with Forusall, the leading 401k technology platform, to expand access to cryptocurrency through 401ks.”

The alt 401(k) option from Forusall is not the first retirement plan to add crypto assets into the fray. The U.S.-based Digital Asset Investment Management (Daim) revealed in November 2020, that it offers a company-sponsored 401(k) retirement plan. Daim’s product allocates up to 10% in bitcoin via the institutional-grade custodian Gemini Trust. The firm New York-based Gemini also works with Bitwage to give employees the ability to invest their pre-tax and post-tax dollars in bitcoin (BTC).

What do you think about Forusall’s alt 401(k) investment option that allows a 5% allocation into cryptocurrencies via Coinbase? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.