What today's landmark proposed rule means for plan sponsors, fiduciaries, and the employees who've been left out of private markets for decades

Key Takeaways

• The DOL released a landmark proposed rule today creating a clear fiduciary framework for including alternatives—private equity, private credit, real estate, and digital assets—in 401(k) plans.

• The rule is asset-neutral: it establishes a six-factor evaluation process that applies equally to any investment type, and creates a safe harbor that reduces litigation risk for plan sponsors who follow it.

• The proposal enters a 60-day public comment period before it can be finalized, with implementation expected in 2027.

• Basic Capital is built to help lean HR teams navigate this expansion responsibly—through automation, transparent fees, and process-driven administration.

Something significant happened today. The U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration released a proposed rule that would give the roughly 90 million Americans covered by defined contribution plans access to alternative assets—private equity, private credit, real estate, digital assets, and more—through a clear, process-based fiduciary framework. For the HR teams and plan sponsors responsible for administering those plans, it raises immediate questions: What does this actually require? What does it protect? And how do you move forward without creating new liability?

Here's what you need to know.

What the Rule Actually Says

The DOL's proposed rule is deliberately asset-neutral. Its goal is to reaffirm that ERISA's prudence standard is grounded in process, not asset class. As Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling put it, the proposal "refrains from saying that any asset class is any better or worse than other investment types, as the law requires."

When selecting investment alternatives, fiduciaries must objectively, thoroughly, and analytically evaluate six factors before adding any asset to a plan menu:

Document this process thoroughly for any alternative under consideration and you've satisfied the rule's requirements—regardless of the asset class. Critically, the rule also establishes safe harbor provisions designed to reduce the litigation risk that has kept most plan sponsors on the sidelines. Fears of lawsuits have long kept fiduciaries away from alternatives, even though 401(k) plans were never outright prohibited from including them. The proposed safe harbor changes that calculus. The rule now enters a 60-day public comment period before it can be finalized, with implementation potentially arriving in 2027.

How We Got Here

In 2020, the first Trump DOL issued guidance suggesting plan fiduciaries could include private equity components in asset allocation funds without violating ERISA. The Biden administration reversed course in late 2021 with supplemental guidance that discouraged private equity in DC plans and warned fiduciaries to exercise "extreme caution" with cryptocurrencies—widely seen as having a chilling effect on innovation.

The second Trump administration reversed course again. President Trump issued an executive order in August 2025 directing the Labor Secretary to clarify guidance on private market and digital investments in retirement plans. The DOL submitted its proposed rule for White House review in January 2026, cleared interagency review on March 24, and published the proposal today.

Why This Matters for Everyday Retirement Savers

Pension funds, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds have long allocated meaningful portions of their portfolios to private markets—asset classes with the potential for higher long-term returns and lower correlation to public markets. The average 401(k) participant had essentially no access to any of it. Companies are staying private longer, and a growing share of economic value creation is occurring outside public markets. Excluding retirement investors from this opportunity has become increasingly difficult to justify.

For Basic Capital, this framing resonates. Our platform is built around a simple premise: the tools that help people build meaningful wealth shouldn't be reserved for those who already have it. Understanding alternative asset investments in 401(k) plans is a topic every HR team and plan participant should be able to engage with confidently.

What Plan Fiduciaries Should Be Thinking About Now

The rule doesn't require anyone to add alternatives. It provides a structured path for sponsors who want to explore them without taking on undue legal risk. A few things worth working through before the rule is finalized:

Start by building the evaluation process before you pick any specific investment. Applying the six-factor framework to non-traditional asset classes requires more deliberate documentation than a typical fund review, and establishing that habit now is good fiduciary hygiene. It's also worth considering where alternatives would fit structurally: most are likely to be integrated into target-date funds or managed accounts rather than offered as standalone options, which affects how you present them to participants. And regardless of participant interest in crypto or private equity, enthusiasm isn't a fiduciary rationale—the documented process is what matters.

The 60-day comment period is also worth engaging. If your plan has particular considerations—participant demographics, plan size, existing lineup—this is the moment to make them heard. For lean HR teams managing 401(k)s alongside a dozen other responsibilities, the 401(k) resources at Basic Capital are built with exactly that reality in mind.

How Basic Capital Opens Access—Responsibly

Basic Capital is built to make this transition practical, not just possible. For plan sponsors ready to explore alternatives, we offer two paths for including digital assets within a plan.

The first is a curated plan menu option, where digital asset funds can be added as designated investment alternatives alongside your existing lineup—evaluated against the DOL's six-factor framework and presented to participants with the education and disclosures they need to make informed decisions. The second is an embedded brokerage window, which gives participants the ability to self-direct a portion of their balance into a broader universe of assets, including digital assets, while keeping the plan sponsor appropriately insulated from individual selection decisions.

Neither path requires your HR team to become crypto experts. Basic Capital's retirement plan specialists work directly with plan sponsors to assess readiness, structure the right option for your participant base, and ensure every step of the process is documented to the standard the DOL's proposed safe harbor requires. Our compliance support covers the due diligence documentation, participant disclosures, and ongoing monitoring obligations that come with offering non-traditional investments—so your team can move forward with confidence, not guesswork.

If you're thinking through what this means for your plan, connect with a Basic Capital retirement plan specialist to talk through your options.

The Bottom Line

Access without structure isn't empowerment—it's exposure. The DOL's proposed rule is a meaningful step toward a retirement system that works for everyone, and Basic Capital's platform is built to help sponsors navigate that expansion through automation, transparency, and process. We're following the comment period closely and will continue updating our resources as things develop. In the meantime, the Basic Capital learn hub is a good place to start.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the proposed DOL rule require 401(k) plans to add alternative investments?

No. The proposed rule provides a fiduciary framework and safe harbor for plan sponsors who choose to consider alternatives—it does not mandate any specific investment options. Participation is entirely at the discretion of each plan sponsor.

What alternative assets does the rule cover?

The rule is asset-neutral and applies the same six-factor process to any investment being considered as a designated investment alternative. In practice, the assets most commonly discussed include private equity, private credit, real estate funds, digital assets including cryptocurrency, and infrastructure.

What is ERISA's fiduciary standard and how does the new rule affect it?

ERISA (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act) requires plan fiduciaries to act prudently and in the best interests of participants. The DOL's proposed rule reaffirms that prudence is a matter of process—not asset class—and provides a documented framework fiduciaries can follow to demonstrate that standard has been met when selecting alternatives.

When will the DOL alternative investments rule take effect?

The proposed rule entered a 60-day public comment period on March 30, 2026. After comments are reviewed and incorporated, a final rule could be published later in 2026, with implementation likely in 2027.

Is cryptocurrency specifically addressed by this rule?

Cryptocurrency is not singled out; the rule takes a deliberately asset-neutral approach. Digital assets are evaluated under the same six-factor process as any other investment type. The Biden-era guidance that warned fiduciaries to exercise "extreme caution" with cryptocurrency was rescinded in 2025.