The 401k is a private arrangement that is set up by companies that employees can elect to participate in, or not.  The IRA is an arrangement where anyone who has earned (wages, etc.) at least the amount they stick into the IRA during a tax year..can take personal money that in many cases has already been taxed...the normal IRA is pre-tax money that is taxed upon withdrawal but there is this thing that is called a Roth IRA (that a lot of people went to once it came out) that allows for people to contribute after-tax money but then when they take it out it's supposed to be tax-free withdrawals for anyone above age 59-1/2.  Chief advantage of a Roth IRA is, money grows without deducting for taxes since you already paid the taxes before putting it into the plan.  I say "supposed to be" because well, you know how politicians are.  They give with one hand when the limelight is on them and they can practically glow with the halo of an angel, then figure out a way to take it all back when nobody is looking!

That "take it all back" is likely coming soon...

When the whole Cyprus banking holiday first hit it woke up quite a few people, but not nearly enough.  What was most surprising to me was how they took a bank and severed the good assets and posted them to a "good bank" while taking the bad assets and leaving them with a separate "bad bank".

That doesn't even follow the bankruptcy rules of most common law nations, so at that point it became very hard to figure out what will come next when the template that all the politicians went around saying "wasn't a template" is laid out in the next instance.

I am glad that the OP was involved in Bitcoin at an early enough time that the Cyprus banking holiday did not cause him complete ruin, but he was probably luckier than most.  Ann Barnhardt in her videos calls what's going on the "stealing of people's lifeblood, the theft of their labor", which when you get right down to it, that is all that money is...a physical and extremely negotiable representation of one's productivity in a way that is easily traded for wants and needs when doing business with others when you do not have what they want or need to exchange for it.  The money replaces that so that they can in turn go to get what they want and need from those who have it instead of all of society going back to trading chickens for goats.  One thing that's unique about trading chickens for goats directly without the use of money in the middle, though, is that it's currently a little harder for the taxman to always get his!

And when you can figure out a way to legally short the taxman it becomes something really sexy...!  (And no, I'm not an accountant or a tax lawyer, LOL!)