Morning Minute: Crypto in Your 401(k)s Is Finally Happening

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. Subscribe to the Morning Minute on Substack.

GM!

Today’s top news:

• Crypto majors jump on 401(k) news; ETH passes $3,900
• SEC and Ripple drop legal battle for good; XRP jumps 7%
• FGF files to raise $5B to build an ETH Treasury
• ChainLink announces ChainLink reserve and LINK buybacks
• Pump.fun announces Glass Full Foundation, spends $1.69M buying memes

🏦 Crypto in Your 401(k)? It’s Happening

Trump signed an executive order opening retirement accounts to crypto exposure.

The “infinite twap” is finally here—but it might not be the biggest immediate impact factor.

📌 What Happened

U.S. President Donald Trump has officially signed an executive order allowing cryptocurrencies and digital assets to be held in 401(k) retirement accounts.

It’s a historic policy shift that could funnel trillions in long-term capital into crypto markets.

The order directs the Department of Labor to treat digital assets as permissible alternative investments within defined contribution retirement plans.

It also sets a framework for crypto-focused funds, trusts, and ETFs to be offered as plan options by retirement providers like Fidelity, Schwab, and Vanguard.

This move fulfills a key part of Trump’s 2024 campaign platform and accelerates the institutional mainstreaming of crypto as an investable asset class.

🗣️ What They’re Saying

“The near-term impact of Trump’s 401(k) executive order is that it sends another message to investors that crypto’s regulatory awakening is here to stay. That’s clearly pushing the market higher.”

-Ryan Rasmussen, Bitwise Head of Research

“Crypto in 401ks is WAY WAY BIGGER news than the ETFs In the US, roughly 100 million Americans have a retirement investment vehicle known as a 401(k). Every 2 weeks, a portion of their paychecks are routed directly into purchasing a mixture of stocks and bonds. On autopilot. No discretion, just direct purchases based on their predefined allocations. Most Americans adjust these allocations annually, if at all.”

-Tom Dunleavy, Head of Venture at Varys Capital

🧠 Why It Matters

This is one of the biggest unlocks of capital in crypto history.

The U.S. retirement market holds over $12.5 trillion in 401(k) assets.

Even a conservative 1% allocation to crypto would represent $125B in new capital – double the combined assets of all current Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs (~$63B).

(I’ll let the moonboys do the math on what 10-20% means).

And unlike traders or short-term speculators, 401(k) money is long duration and less price-sensitive – it’s sticky.

The other impact here beyond the “infinite twap” (which I’ve defined as a set % of weekly paychecks going into BTC / crypto every week ongoing forever) is…

The upfront rebalancing effort.

Once this is approved and operational, there will be a cohort of people who immediately swap 1-2%, or 5% or 10%+ of their 401ks into crypto.

This is now 1-2%+ of their weekly paychecks, this is 1-2%+ of their ENTIRE 401ks.

It’s a tsunami of capital.

And this is what could push Bitcoin to $180k+ in the nearish future.

The time is now to get into position, so you can ride the tsunami wave – and not get washed out by it…

🌎 Macro Crypto and Memes

• Crypto majors are green with XRP leading after ending its legal battle; BTC +0.2% at $116,800, ETH +2% at $3,910, XRP +8% at $3.32, SOL +2% at $177
• PENDLE (+22%), AERO (+12%) and LINK (+11%) led top movers in a big day for alts
• ChainLink’s LINK token jumped 11% after the team introduced its ChainLink Reserve, now using revenue to buyback its own token for a reserve
• The ETH ETFs had their biggest day in 9 sessions with $222.3M in net inflows (BTC ETFs saw $277.4M)
• Trump signed Executive Orders on Thursday to prohibit debanking of crypto companies along with allowing crypto in 401(k)s
• The SEC and Ripple officially ended their ongoing legal battle
• Ripple acquired stablecoin payments platform Rail for $200M, plans to integrate RLUSD
• Eric Trump teased his new mining / treasuryco ‘American Bitcoin’ and said “Next stop, NASDAQ,” now backed by the Winklevoss twins

In Corporate Treasuries

In Memes

• Memecoin leaders are green on the day; DOGE +4%, Shiba +2%, PEPE +3%, PENGU +1%, BONK +2%, TRUMP +3%, SPX -1%, and FARTCOIN +4%
• BOSS jumped another 80% to $32M leading new movers; NYAN soared 31,000% to $11M on Bags
• Several Pump memecoins soared after the Pump team started buying them using new funds (more info below)
• The DogWifHat knitted hat sold for $800,000 to the funder of the Bags launchpad
• The top token on Zora’s creator launchpad is a porn company “Fake Taxi”

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here’s a rundown of major token, protocol and airdrop news from the day:

🤖 AI x Crypto

Section dedicated to headlines in the AI sector of crypto:

• Overall market cap up 13% to $12.4B, leaders were very green
• FARTCOIN (+4%), VIRTUAL (+3%), TIBBIR (+5%), ai16z (+3%) & ALCH (-1%)
• GAMBLE (+175%), YNE (+43%) and IRIS (+34%) led top movers

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

• ETH NFT leaders were mostly green; Punks +1% at 53 ETH, Pudgy +1% at 14.3, BAYC +2% at 12.1 ETH
• Moonbirds (+12%), Grifters (+11%) and Chimpers (+10%) led notable top movers; Quirkies 37% as well
• Fidenzas have seen 6 sales in the past 2 days bringing the floor up to 44.4 ETH ($174,000)
• Bitcoin NFTs were mostly green led by Bitcoin Wizards +46%; Taproot Wizards +9% and Bitcoin Puppets +8%
• Runes soared after Elon Must tweeted the ‘Magic Internet Money’ meme; MIM +50% to $90M, PUPS +30%, RSIC +60%
• Abstract NFTs were mostly red; Bearyz +12% led
• Pudgy Penguins launched Igloo APAC as their official Asia arm