US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Bill Clears House Financial Services Committee

A bill to establish a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve has cleared the House Financial Services Committee and is now one step closer to a full floor vote. The American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026, or H.R. 8957, would place the Treasury Department in charge of managing the federal government's Bitcoin holdings for a mandatory 20-year holding period with no sales allowed.

The legislation, introduced by Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK) and co-led by Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), has attracted more than 20 bipartisan cosponsors. The Treasury would be required to publish quarterly Proof-of-Reserve reports featuring cryptographic attestations of its holdings, with independent audits supplementing those reports.

The bill also creates a separate Digital Asset Stockpile for non-Bitcoin digital assets and explicitly protects privately held Bitcoin from government seizure. Currently, the federal government holds an estimated 328,372 BTC, valued between $25B and $30B, which would be locked in for two decades under ARMA.