The House Financial Services Committee will take up H.R. 8957, the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026, on Wednesday, September 16. The bill would codify a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve managed by the Treasury Department, turning what started as an executive order into binding federal law.
What’s actually in the bill
The legislation, introduced by Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK) on May 21, 2026, carries more than 20 co-sponsors, including Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of Maine.
At its core, ARMA would impose a mandatory 20-year lockup on all Bitcoin held in the reserve. No trades, no swaps, no sales.
The bill also mandates quarterly proof-of-reserve reports conducted by third-party auditors.
Within 180 days of the bill’s enactment, the Treasury would need to establish secure storage infrastructure for the Bitcoin holdings. The reserve would primarily consist of Bitcoin already seized through criminal and civil forfeitures, meaning no new market purchases and no fresh taxpayer dollars.
Notably, the bill also creates a separate category called the Digital Asset Stockpile for non-Bitcoin digital assets.
From executive order to legislation
ARMA builds on a March 2025 executive order from President Trump that initiated the consolidation of Bitcoin seized by federal agencies into a single reserve. That order prohibited the sale of those holdings for 20 years, establishing the basic framework that this bill now seeks to enshrine in statute.
Texas recently established an advisory committee focused on Bitcoin reserves, and several other states have explored similar frameworks. ARMA essentially aligns federal policy with what’s already percolating in state capitals.
What this means for markets
The 20-year lockup provision is particularly significant for supply dynamics. By legally prohibiting the government from selling its Bitcoin holdings for two decades, the bill effectively removes those coins from circulating supply. For an asset with a hard cap of 21 million coins, taking a meaningful chunk off the table for a generation has real implications for scarcity calculations.
The prohibition on new market purchases means the government won’t be a buyer competing with institutional and retail investors, and it removes the political risk of taxpayer money being used to buy a volatile asset.
The creation of a separate Digital Asset Stockpile for non-Bitcoin assets implicitly acknowledges that the government holds seized tokens beyond Bitcoin, and that those assets need their own governance framework.
Wednesday’s markup is a committee-level event, not a final vote. The bill would still need to pass the full House, survive Senate consideration, and reach the president’s desk.