The US House Committee on Financial Services approved the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026 (H.R. 8957) on Wednesday by a 28-21 vote, moving legislation that would codify President Donald Trump’s executive order establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve into statutory law.
The bill would create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a separate Digital Asset Stockpile within the Department of the Treasury, designating separate custody structures for federally held Bitcoin and other digital assets acquired through criminal or civil forfeiture proceedings.
Under the legislation, Bitcoin held in the federal reserve would be subject to a minimum 20-year holding period. The US government is estimated to hold 324,527 Bitcoin, valued at approximately $24.7 billion, according to on-chain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence.
Rep. Nicholas Begich, who introduced the bill on May 21, argued that current arrangements were insufficient. "We cannot allow Bitcoin to be held by the federal government to languish in fragmented and inconsistent custody," Begich said. "It poses unacceptable cybersecurity risks and fails to give an adequate accounting of what the federal government actually owns."
The legislation requires all federal agencies to provide a full accounting of digital assets they currently hold or control, and establishes transparency measures including quarterly "proof of reserve" reports and third-party audits. It would also direct a study of budget-neutral acquisition strategies for expanding the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and authorize states to store their Bitcoin holdings at the Federal Reserve.
The bill affirms private ownership and self-custody rights of Bitcoin, describing control of private keys as "fundamental to the principles of financial sovereignty, privacy, and personal liberty in the digital age."
Bitcoin Policy Institute executive director Connor Brown called the committee's approval "a genuinely historic step for Bitcoin policy." In May, Strive CEO Matt Cole described the legislation as "the single most important crypto legislation that can come out of DC."
The committee vote clears one legislative hurdle; the bill must still pass the full House and Senate before reaching the president's desk.
