House Committee Advances Landmark Bitcoin Reserve Legislation

The Bill’s Passage

The American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026 (H.R. 8957) cleared a significant milestone on Wednesday when the US House Committee on Financial Services voted 28-21 to advance the legislation. The bill aims to convert an executive order establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve into permanent law, fundamentally reshaping how the US government manages its digital asset holdings.

Introduced by US Representative Nicholas Begich in May, the bill responds to growing concerns about how federal Bitcoin holdings are currently stored and managed. “We cannot allow Bitcoin to be held by the federal government to languish in fragmented and inconsistent custody,” Begich stated when discussing the legislation. “It poses unacceptable cybersecurity risks and fails to give an adequate accounting of what the federal government actually owns.”

Securing America’s Digital Assets

The proposed reserve framework would establish two key components within the Department of the Treasury: a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a separate Digital Asset Stockpile. Both would hold cryptocurrencies acquired by the federal government through criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings.

A major feature of the legislation mandates that Bitcoin held in the federal reserve remain locked away for a minimum of 20 years, preventing rapid liquidation and ensuring continuity of the reserve policy across different administrations. According to Arkham Intelligence, the US government currently holds approximately 324,527 Bitcoin, valued at $24.7 billion at the time of the bill’s committee approval.

The bill introduces comprehensive transparency and security requirements. Federal agencies would be required to conduct full accounting of all digital assets they hold or control, while the Treasury would publish quarterly “proof of reserve” reports backed by independent audits. These measures directly address the cybersecurity and accounting concerns raised by Begich.

Expanding the Framework

Beyond establishing the immediate reserve structure, the legislation directs the Treasury to study budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional Bitcoin, potentially expanding the federal holdings over time. It also permits individual states to store Bitcoin holdings within the Federal Reserve itself, creating a distributed yet organized system for government-held digital assets.

Notably, the bill reaffirms private ownership and self-custody rights, explicitly recognizing control of private keys as “fundamental to the principles of financial sovereignty, privacy, and personal liberty in the digital age.” This language represents a significant government acknowledgment of crypto’s foundational principles.

The legislative advancement has garnered support from prominent figures in the Bitcoin policy space. Connor Brown, executive director of the Bitcoin Policy Institute, called the committee’s approval “a genuinely historic step for Bitcoin policy.” Similarly, Matt Cole, CEO of Strive, previously characterized the overall legislative effort as “the single most important crypto legislation that can come out of DC.”

Government Bitcoin reserves signal institutional confidence in crypto assets, potentially reshaping market adoption and legitimacy globally.

Source: US House Committee on Financial Services, via Cointelegraph. Not financial advice.