A crypto trader has said early Bitcoin investors very likely wouldn’t have the conviction to hold onto the cryptocurrency for over a decade through its sharp corrections.

Buying Bitcoin years ago wouldn’t have made you rich today, says trader

Standard Chartered’s Hong Kong arm and Animoca Brands have launched a joint 
venture, Anchorpoint Financial, to develop a licensed Hong Kong dollar 
stablecoin.

Animoca and Standard Chartered form stablecoin venture in Hong Kong

On Thursday, the decades-old wall separating US retirement accounts from 
direct crypto exposure came down — and the potential capital inflow is 
staggering. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that will open 
401(k) retirement plans to a broader range of alternative assets, including 
private equity, real estate, and — for the first time — crypto assets such as 
Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. Is A Trillion-Dollar Crypto Flood About To Hit? 
The news marks a sharp reversal from the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) 
aggressive stance just three years ago, when the agency issued an 
unprecedented warning urging retirement plan providers to “exercise extreme 
caution” before offering crypto in 401(k) plans. As Ryan Rasmussen, Head of 
Research at Bitwise Asset Management, noted, “It was the first — and only — 
time the DOL singled out an asset class like this. Not even junk bonds or ESG 
funds.” In 2022, the DOL went further, stating that adding crypto to a 401(k) 
could be interpreted as a failure to meet the required fiduciary standard of 
professional care. The message was unambiguous: providers who failed to meet 
that standard could be held personally liable for any losses. This effectively 
froze the market before it began. “401(k) providers had to decide if adding 
crypto to plans was worth the risk of DOL scrutiny. Most didn’t,” Rasmussen 
explained. The chilling effect was immediate — sponsors backed off, firms 
paused crypto-linked retirement products, and investors “missed out on life- 
changing returns.” Related Reading: USDC Emerges As Top Pick In Booming Crypto 
Payroll Trend—Survey By mid-2025, however, the tide had turned. Mounting legal 
pressure, pushback from 401(k) providers, and Congressional criticism of 
regulatory overreach led the DOL to rescind its “extreme caution” guidance in 
full. More strikingly, the agency admitted that its 2022 approach was a 
deviation from its historically neutral treatment of investment strategies. As 
Rasmussen put it, “Once again, the US government admitted it had singled out 
crypto.” Now, the executive order will not merely remove the roadblocks but 
actively open the gates. According to Bloomberg data cited by Rasmussen, the 
US 401(k) market is valued at approximately $12.5 trillion. Even a 1% 
allocation to crypto would translate to $125 billion in inflows; a 10% 
allocation could reach $1.25 trillion. Rasmussen believes the earliest 
beneficiaries will be assets with existing exchange-traded fund (ETF) 
structures, naming Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, while adding that “a rising 
tide lifts all boats.” More Implications For industry observers, the 
implications extend beyond a one-time capital injection. Tom Dunleavy, Head of 
Venture at Varys Capital, stressed that the mechanics of 401(k) investing 
create a powerful and persistent demand driver. “In the US, roughly 100 
million Americans have a retirement investment vehicle known as a 401(k),” 
Dunleavy explained. Related Reading: Crypto Is Here To Stay—Even The SEC Can’t 
Do Anything About It, Analyst Says “Every 2 weeks, a portion of their 
paychecks are routed directly into purchasing a mixture of stocks and bonds… 
This is a HUGE driver of the equity market run and resilience over the past 20 
years. A constant background bid for assets.” With around $50 billion entering 
these funds biweekly, even a modest portfolio allocation to crypto — 1%, 3%, 
or 5% — could create recurring inflows of $120 billion to $600 billion 
annually. “And these aren’t one-time flows. THEY KEEP BUYING ONCE ALLOCATIONS 
ARE SET,” Dunleavy emphasized. Jan Happel and Yann Allemann, the founders of 
Glassnode and Swissblock, are already calling the move a watershed for 
mainstream adoption. They remarked via X, “People don’t realize yet how big 
today’s news has been for crypto… this will be seen as the watershed moment 
for mainstream adoption, much more than the ETF.” Scott Melker, known as “The 
Wolf of All Streets,” highlighted the transformational nature of the change: 
“Until now, the average American couldn’t touch Bitcoin or Altcoins in a 
401(k). Soon, they might be able to DCA and trade like a degen tax-free for 
decades. This isn’t just policy — it’s a paradigm shift.” As Dunleavy summed 
it up, with 401(k)s and direct asset trusts in place, the policy “put[s] a 
ridiculous floor under crypto going forward and move[s] the limit from the 
moon to Jupiter.” At press time, the total crypto market cap stood at $3.82 
trillion. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

Crypto Set For $1.25 Trillion Tsunami As Trump Opens 401(k) Floodgates

Ethereum has broken out of its week-long slumber, posting fresh gains as 
whales and institutions double down. SharpLink, one of the largest public 
holders of ETH has increased its stack with a fresh buy, offering a boost to 
price. According…

Ethereum eyes $4,000 as SharpLink buys another 22,000 ETH

On August 6, 2025, a federal jury issued a mixed verdict in the case brought 
against Roman Storm, co‑founder of Tornado Cash. Jurors deadlocked on the most 
serious allegations—conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to 
violate sanctions—and returned a conviction only on a lesser charge: 
conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. This […]

Roman Storm’s Tornado Cash Verdict: What It Means for Crypto

PreStocksFi has launched tokenized pre-IPO stocks on Jupiter, allowing traders 
to access and trade shares of top private companies like SpaceX, OpenAI, and 
Neuralink. Tokenized pre-IPO stocks from PreStocksFi are now live and 
available for trading 24/7 via Solana&#8217;s #1…