Overview
- Rep. Nick Begich introduced the American Reserve Modernization Act with Democratic co-lead Rep. Jared Golden and about 17–18 co-sponsors on May 21–22, 2026 to codify the March 2025 executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
- The bill would centralize roughly 328,372 BTC the government already holds from law enforcement seizures into a Treasury-run reserve and create a separate stockpile for other seized digital assets.
- ARMA would authorize Treasury to add up to 200,000 BTC per year for five years toward a 1 million BTC target and require any bitcoins placed in the reserve to be held for a minimum of 20 years.
- The proposal mandates transparency and checks through quarterly public proof-of-reserve reports, independent third-party audits, consolidated custody across agencies, and a rule that any sale revenue go only to reduce the national debt.
- Supporters frame ARMA as a way to give long-term structure and oversight to federal crypto holdings while critics question whether crypto fits a strategic reserve role and legal, custody, and financing issues remain unresolved.