Vanguard crypto: can you buy it in a Vanguard 401(k)?
Getting crypto exposure through a Vanguard 401(k) is possible, but only in a narrow way. Coins like bitcoin can't be purchased inside the plan directly. The one way in is a crypto ETF, which you would purchase via a brokerage window, and only when the plan your employer set up includes one, as Vanguard explains.
Vanguard 401(k) and crypto at a glance
- Route to crypto
- Crypto funds (ETFs) from other companies, only through a brokerage window if your plan has one
- Switched on by
- Your plan must offer a brokerage option
- Limit
- Set by your plan
- Cost
- The fund's own yearly fee plus your plan's fees
- Held by
- The fund, which hires a firm to store the coins
- What it holds
- Shares of crypto funds, not coins
From Vanguard's own page. Compare every 401(k) provider side by side.
If your plan offers none of this: an old Vanguard 401(k) can roll over to a crypto IRA
- iTrustCapital: $500 to buy in and $0 a year on $50,000
- Fidelity Crypto IRA: $500 to buy in and $0 a year on $50,000
- Coin IRA: $625 to buy in and $0 a year on $50,000
Your only way in
A typical 401(k) gives you a short list of funds to pick from. Some plans add a brokerage window, which is an account within the 401(k) that opens the door to funds and ETFs outside that list, but only when the employer includes it. With a Vanguard plan, that window is the only place you can hold a crypto ETF.
A spot crypto ETF holds actual coins and follows their price. What you hold are fund shares, never the coins. Fidelity notes that funds of this kind can sit in brokerage accounts, trusts, and IRAs alike.
Is a brokerage option part of your plan?
Whether you have a brokerage option is up to your employer's plan, not you or Vanguard. Without a brokerage option in the plan, crypto stays out of reach, Vanguard says. Not sure where you stand? Check your plan documents or your account pages, or call us to talk through your options with a retirement specialist.
What your plan allows and charges
Your plan decides what share of your balance may flow into the brokerage window. There is no single Vanguard-wide cap.
You pay two kinds of cost:
- The ETF's own expense ratio, the annual fee the fund takes as a percentage of your holding
- The fees your plan itself charges
The Department of Labor's 2025 shift
The Department of Labor released Compliance Assistance Release 2025-01 on May 28, 2025, pulling back its 2022 caution about crypto in 401(k) plans. That 2022 guidance had urged plans to apply "extreme care" around crypto. The department now says nothing in the law covering these plans contains that standard. It also states it neither supports nor opposes crypto. Your employer still decides whether to offer it.
If your plan has no brokerage option
A crypto IRA is an option for savers who want to own the coins themselves rather than fund shares. It's an IRA with a company that permits holding coins. While you still work for the employer, 401(k) money can shift over only when the plan permits an in-service rollover. Funds sitting in an old employer's plan can move whenever you like.
With a direct rollover, the old plan sends the money straight to the new IRA provider. No withholding happens and no tax is due. Cashing out can cost a lot. Before age 59½ you pay a 10% extra tax on top of your normal income tax. For example, someone who is 45 and takes out $20,000 could end up keeping only about $12,600. Move that same $20,000 through a direct rollover and the full $20,000 arrives intact, owing no tax and no 10% charge today.
Crypto IRA costs compared
Here's what you'd pay to get in, and then each year, at two balance levels, assuming you never trade again after that first buy.
Start with the cheapest group. At both $10,000 and $50,000, iTrustCapital, Fidelity Crypto IRA and Coin IRA charge nothing after the first buy. The others add a yearly fee, from $60 to $500 depending on the provider and your balance.
With a $250,000 balance, buying in through iTrustCapital or Fidelity Crypto IRA costs $2,500, with $0 owed yearly. Choice charges $3,125 upfront and $2,499 per year.