Financial-services company Wealthsimple is adding cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum to its group-retirement plans.
Employees of companies with retirement plans run by Wealthsimple Work will be able to allocate 1% to 3% of their holdings into exchange traded funds (ETFs) made up of Bitcoin and Ethereum, Wealthsimple said in a news release.
The plans will automatically rebalance to keep the cryptocurrency, stock and bond portions of their portfolios at their targeted levels.
For Wealthsimple, adding cryptocurrencies to retirement plans is a way to differentiate its offerings from those of other financial-services providers and lure more companies to sign up with Wealthsimple Work.
The move also is meant to attract younger employees -- who may be enthusiastic about cryptocurrency, but less interested in saving for retirement -- to start contributing to Wealthsimple Work plans.
Wealthsimple has more than two million clients and in May of this year raised $750 million in a funding round that valued it at about $4 billion U.S., more than three times what it was worth just seven months earlier.
Wealthsimple Work manages group retirement plans for hundreds of companies.
Bitcoin has rallied to a record high following the listing this week of the first U.S.-based exchange traded fund (ETF) linked to the digital currency.
