“Sometimes we look at things we say, ‘You know what, we should get out,’ and other times we don’t. And last week, we didn’t get out that fast.”
This is what Maximilian Pace, CTO of BlockTrust IRA, said in an interview with CoinDesk.
BlockTrust IRA, an AI-powered cryptocurrency retirement platform, was one of many cryptocurrency-focused companies that suffered from the brutal sell-off that gripped the market last week.
Related: 136-Year-Old Investment Firm Predicts Next Bitcoin Crash
Bitcoin (BTC), XRP (XRP), Ethereum (ETH), publicly traded companies with cryptocurrencies on their balance sheet, no one was spared.
Bitcoin often indicates market sentiment with its movements. Once it falls, it drags others down. Last week, Bitcoin fell below the $70,000 threshold to as low as $62,000. The move marked Bitcoin’s biggest drop since it was trading at similar levels in October 2024.
At press time, Bitcoin was slowly retreating, trading at $70,724.70
Bitcoin’s decline from its October peak has reignited debate over whether cryptocurrencies have any place in the US retirement system.
The speed and severity of the cryptocurrency sell-off took many companies by surprise.
BlockTrust IRA, which has added $70 million in IRA funds over the past 12 months, found itself in the middle of the bloodbath.
Pace said the company relies on a “broad sense of analysis” designed to work over longer time horizons rather than reacting to short-term market noise. That approach helped the company deliver better results in 2025, and Pace said the company “isn’t necessarily affected by volatility.”
For Pace, the key is perspective.
“There are ways to de-risk the investment, whether from a time or strategic perspective, that make it more attractive or more acceptable for things like 401(k) programs. But like anything, there are risks.” said.
The core of the concern is risk. Cryptocurrencies remain a young and highly volatile asset class, where the price moves in minutes and hours, sometimes due to speculation. But pension funds are designed for constant, predictable growth.
In August, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order allowing 401(k)s and other defined contribution retirement plans to access alternative assets, including digital assets.
Lee Reiners, a professor at the Duke Financial Economics Center and co-host of the “Coffee & Crypto” podcast, said many retirement plans already get indirect exposure to cryptocurrencies through publicly traded companies like Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN), which are included in major stock indexes.