House Committee Advances Bill to Lock U.S. Bitcoin Reserve Into Law for 20 Years
The House Financial Services Committee advanced H.R. 8957 on September 16, moving legislation that would permanently codify the U.S. government's approximately 207,000 BTC stockpile into federal statute and bar any administration from selling it for two decades.
The American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026 (ARMA), led by Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK) with Democratic co-sponsor Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), cleared committee markup with more than 20 co-sponsors on board, up from 17 or more at introduction. Rep. Golden is the sole named Democratic co-sponsor in the legislative record, giving the bill a bipartisan foothold that sponsors are using to argue for institutional credibility over political partisanship.
The bill now advances to a full House vote, after which it would still need Senate passage and a presidential signature to become law. If enacted, ARMA would transform a reserve currently held under an executive order into a permanent feature of federal financial policy, one that no future president could dismantle without an act of Congress.
From Executive Order to Statute
The legal foundation for ARMA traces back to March 6, 2025, when President Trump signed an executive order directing the Treasury and Commerce Departments to consolidate Bitcoin seized through federal criminal and civil forfeiture proceedings into a single strategic reserve. That order imposed a 20-year prohibition on selling the holdings and instructed agencies to explore budget-neutral ways of acquiring more.
At the time of signing, the federal government held an estimated 207,000 BTC, valued at roughly $17 billion at March 2025 prices. That figure reflects a March 2025 baseline; actual holdings may have shifted since due to subsequent forfeitures or transfers. At current prices near $75,961 per coin, the stockpile is worth approximately $15.7 billion.
The problem with governing by executive order is durability. A future administration could simply sign a different order. ARMA exists specifically to close that gap. "Congress needs federal policy on digital assets rather than executive branch discretion," said Rep. Golden. His co-sponsorship is central to the sponsors' case that the bill reflects broad consensus rather than partisan positioning.
What the Bill Actually Does
ARMA's core provisions go beyond simply freezing the existing stockpile. The bill mandates quarterly proof-of-reserve reports, meaning independent third-party auditors must cryptographically verify the government's BTC holdings and publish the results publicly every three months. Treasury would have 180 days after enactment to establish secure custody infrastructure.
Proof-of-reserve audits have become a widely discussed transparency mechanism in the digital asset industry. Applying that standard to a sovereign government's holdings would be a notable first.
The bill explicitly prohibits using taxpayer funds to purchase Bitcoin. The reserve would be built exclusively from seized and forfeited assets. Treasury and Commerce are directed to study budget-neutral acquisition methods, including revaluing gold certificates and redirecting Federal Reserve remittances, but new taxes, new borrowing, and deficit spending are all ruled out.
A separate category would hold non-Bitcoin seized assets such as Ether and XRP in what the bill calls a Digital Asset Stockpile.
ARMA also affirms that individual Americans retain the right to purchase, hold, transfer, and self-custody Bitcoin, including control of their own private keys. The bill additionally creates a mechanism for states to voluntarily place Bitcoin in segregated federal accounts, extending the reserve framework to the state level without mandating participation.
Supply Context: Why the Lockup Number Matters
At $75,961, Bitcoin's total market capitalization sits between $1.33 and $1.59 trillion, with around $17.86 billion traded in the past 24 hours.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs absorbed roughly 13,500 BTC in the past week alone, approximately six times the amount newly mined over that same period.
As of March 9, 2026, 20 million of Bitcoin's hard-capped 21 million coins had been mined, leaving fewer than 1 million coins to be released over the next 114 years or so.
The government's 207,000 BTC, locked up for a minimum of 20 years under ARMA, are already held outside active market circulation as seized property. The bill's significance lies in what it prevents: without ARMA, a future administration could sell those coins back into the market. By statute, that option would be foreclosed for at least two decades, effectively removing a potential supply injection of meaningful scale.
The Regional Domino Effect
The bill's passage from committee carries weight well beyond Washington. Pakistan moved this year to formalize its own Strategic Bitcoin Reserve under the Virtual Assets Law of 2026, which established the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) as a permanent federal body. U.S. legislative codification adds international credibility to that decision and gives Pakistani officials firmer ground when defending the policy domestically.
In India, political pressure for a national Bitcoin reserve strategy has been building. As a full BRICS member, India faces pressure from within the bloc as fellow members explore alternatives to dollar dominance, and policymakers are concerned about being caught flat-footed in a shifting monetary landscape. No formal Indian policy has emerged, but the trajectory in Washington is sharpening the debate.
Brazil has proposed legislation known as RESBit for a reserve of up to 1 million BTC, representing approximately 5 percent of Bitcoin's total supply, to be accumulated over five years.
Ethiopia and Kenya are exploring Bitcoin mining as a way to monetize stranded hydroelectric and geothermal energy capacity, partly as leverage in IMF debt negotiations.
South Africa and Nigeria are also actively evaluating sovereign Bitcoin adoption. Nigeria's contested regulatory history with crypto makes the bill's explicit affirmation of self-custody rights particularly relevant to its domestic policy discussions.
For developers and businesses operating in markets where self-custody rights remain legally contested, the bill's explicit affirmation of private key ownership at federal statutory level provides a precedent worth citing. The quarterly cryptographic audit standard, if it becomes law, could also function as a de facto template for exchange and institutional custody regulation in other jurisdictions.
The regional implications extend to remittance corridors across South Asia. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka together process hundreds of billions of dollars in annual remittances. A globally legitimized Bitcoin framework, anchored by U.S. statutory precedent, could accelerate the development of crypto-based remittance alternatives in markets where traditional corridors carry some of the highest transaction costs in the world.
What Comes Next
The bill still faces a full House vote, Senate consideration, and a presidential signature before it becomes law. A Senate companion effort, led by Sen. Cynthia Lummis, has been in motion since March 2025; its current status in the Senate committee process has not been specified in available legislative records.
"Digital space property rights must align with American ideals while diversifying reserves," Begich said in a statement.
Whether that framing holds enough votes across both chambers remains the central legislative question heading into the fall session.