Teachers' Union Slams Senate Crypto Bill: Pensions at Risk?

The AFT opposes a Senate crypto bill, warning it risks pensions and weakens securities protections by allowing risky assets and tokenized stocks into retirement funds, potentially exposing workers to fraud and instability.

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), representing nearly 1.8 million workers, has strongly opposed the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, a proposed Senate bill aiming to clarify crypto market regulations. The union warns that the bill could expose retirement funds, including pensions and 401(k)s, to high-risk crypto assets and undermine existing securities protections. AFT argues that treating volatile cryptocurrencies as stable retirement investments is dangerous, citing the market’s history of fraud and extreme price swings. The union is particularly concerned about provisions allowing non-crypto companies to tokenize their stock on blockchains, potentially bypassing federal registration and reporting requirements, which could introduce unsafe assets into pension funds. Critics, including the AFL-CIO, say the bill weakens safeguards for both crypto and traditional securities, does little to prevent crime in crypto markets, and could pave the way for large-scale fraud and financial instability. The debate has caused divisions among lawmakers and industry groups, with concerns that the bill’s lack of robust consumer protections and regulatory oversight could threaten the financial security of millions of workers.