President Donald Trump used his State of the Union address to unveil what he described as a major expansion of America's retirement safety net.
The pitch was simple. Give tens of millions of private-sector workers access to a federal-style retirement plan and match up to $1,000 of their contributions each year.
But there was one notable omission from the plan.
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Trump pitches federal-style accounts for private workers
Speaking before Congress on Feb. 23, Trump addressed the gaps in the retirement system, CNN reported . About half of working Americans still do not have access to a retirement plan with matching contributions from an employer.
Trump framed his latest proposal as a fix to what some policy groups call a retirement crisis.
The plan would extend a model similar to the federal government's Thrift Savings Plan to private-sector workers who currently lack employer-sponsored retirement options. Roughly 54 million Americans fall into that category, according to research cited by the Economic Innovation Group.
Under Trump's proposal, workers would be able to contribute to portable accounts and receive a federal match of up to $1,000 annually.
However, there are structural limits. The executive branch cannot unilaterally allocate new federal spending without Congress.
A similar mechanism already exists under the Secure 2.0 Act, signed into law by former President Joe Biden in 2022, which created a "Saver's Match" of up to $1,000 for qualifying low- and moderate-income workers who contribute $2,000 to eligible retirement accounts.
Moreover, eligibility is restricted to workers earning under $25,000 annually or about $41,000 for couples. Critics argue that many households in this income bracket struggle to cover basic expenses, let alone save thousands of dollars per year.
According to the Survey of Consumer Finances, fewer than 12% of people earning below $43,000 contribute to retirement accounts.
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Trump skips crypto once again
What Trump's federal proposal does not refer to is digital assets. And this is not the first time from the president who is generally considered pro-crypto.
Back in December, when Trump floated the plan for a savings program for children, the crypto community was disappointed when it had no mention of crypto.
Under the program, every U.S. child born between 2025 and 2028 is eligible for a government-backed investment account with tax-advantaged growth. However, they can put the money only into index mutual funds and index ETFs.
What's interesting is that some of the biggest names from the crypto industry like Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD) and Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) have extended support for the Trump Accounts program.
Now, crypto has increasingly entered the pension debate at the state level.
In Indiana, lawmakers have floated measures that would require certain public retirement programs to offer cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as standard investment options.
In North Carolina, legislators introduced a bill directing the state treasurer to examine whether Bitcoin (BTC) could be added to the $108 billion North Carolina Retirement Systems as a potential long-term inflation hedge.
Florida lawmakers previously proposed allowing limited exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) ETFs within the Florida Retirement System, one of the largest public pension funds in the country, though that effort ultimately stalled.
Meanwhile, a bipartisan group in Michigan introduced legislation that would allow public-employee pension funds to allocate a small percentage of assets to spot Bitcoin ETFs, responding to union calls for broader diversification.
Even where direct crypto allocations remain controversial, indirect exposure is already happening. According to BitcoinTreasuries data, retirement systems in Virginia, North Carolina, and California have added shares of Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR), the publicly traded company known for holding large amounts of Bitcoin on its balance sheet.
Related: Americans cut retirement savings as recession fears rise
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Feb 26, 2026, where it first appeared in the Policy section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
