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Donald Trump has signed an executive order to open the $9tn US retirement market to cryptocurrency investments, private equity and other alternative investments like property deals, in a move that will reshape how Americans’ savings are managed.

The order instructs Washington regulatory agencies to re-examine and clarify existing regulations to allow for the investments to be included in professionally managed funds used by about 90mn US savers for 401k retirement plans, according to a senior administration official.

These accounts allow American workers to invest part of their salaries in global financial markets before their incomes are taxed. Those plans have mostly invested in stocks and bonds, as well as low-cost funds tracking broad market indices such as the S&P 500.

The move is expected to fuel the growth of the private capital industry, which has sought new sources of capital, and open crypto investments to US retirement savings accounts. The latter would further an effort under Trump to bring digital tokens into the mainstream of the financial system.

While that will diversify workers’ nest eggs beyond traditional stocks and bonds, it will subject them to new risks, such as lower liquidity, higher fees and greater leverage.

Cryptocurrencies are volatile and have soared to all-time highs since the start of the year, but have experienced a series of boom-bust cycles over the past decade.

The executive order is part of a broad deregulatory push under the Trump administration, which has rolled back restrictions on cryptocurrency investments, closed regulatory probes into the industry and loosened banking industry rules.

Digital currencies have surged in value under Trump, whose family now holds large stakes in companies with billions of dollars in such investments.

Top executives in these industries, particularly digital assets, have been among Trump’s most ardent and generous supporters. Some people following the progress of the order, which has been expected for months after a Financial Times report in May, said the addition of cryptocurrency investments helped to get Trump’s ultimate sign off.

“It is not clear to me that private markets would have had the juice to get this through on their own,” said one top adviser. Cryptocurrencies are far more popular in Trump’s Washington than leveraged and often controversial private capital deals, they continued.

The president’s order comes after a furious lobbying effort by private capital groups and their advisers in Washington, who have sensed an opening to broaden the appeal of their funds after Joe Biden’s administration sought to curtail such investments from retirement plans.

Private equity groups have pushed for several years for access to 401k retirement plans, arguing that American workers’ savings are too highly concentrated in a small group of public stocks and bond mutual funds.

The private equity industry has in recent years struggled to raise money from the pension funds and endowments that it has relied on historically. Groups such as Blackstone and Apollo predict that accessing 401k plans could deliver hundreds of billions of dollars in new industry assets.

Blackstone, KKR, BlackRock and Partners Group have already struck partnerships with asset managers who administer 401k plans.

Trump tried to spur investment in private markets in the final months of his first term, but the move failed to gain traction as 401k plan managers expressed concerns over liability risk.

Fund managers were fearful that they could face litigation from workers, given the risk of higher fees, leverage and difficulty valuing and selling private assets.

While Trump’s order will not give immediate regulatory certainty to 401k plan administrators, industry experts said it would give lawmakers and government agencies “air cover” to tweak laws to offer newfound protections against lawsuits.