House Passes Bitcoin Reserve Bill With 20-Year Lockup

Bipartisan House representatives introduced the "American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026" (ARMA) on Thursday to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve that would lock U.S. government bitcoin holdings for a minimum of 20 years. The bill, authored by Rep. Nick Begich (R-Alaska) and co-led by Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), codifies President Donald Trump's 2025 executive order creating a national bitcoin stockpile. The legislation mandates that all bitcoin deposited into the reserve remain untouched for two decades, preventing the government from "selling, swapping, auctioning, encumbering, or otherwise disposing of" the assets during this period. After the lockup expires, the Treasury secretary could recommend selling up to 10% of reserve assets in any two-year period. The bill also establishes a separate Digital Asset Stockpile for non-bitcoin cryptocurrencies held by the federal government and managed by the Treasury.

20-Year Lockup and Asset Protection

According to the bill text, ARMA requires all bitcoin placed into the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve to remain locked for a minimum of 20 years. During this period, the government is barred from selling, swapping, auctioning, encumbering, or otherwise disposing of the assets for any reason. Rep. Mike Rulli (R-Ohio) stated: "America should not be selling off strategic digital assets. We should be securing them for the future. This bill takes a long-term approach by requiring the United States to responsibly hold Bitcoin as part of a modern reserve strategy."

Acquisition Mechanisms

Unlike earlier BITCOIN Act proposals that discussed acquiring up to 1 million bitcoin over five years, the ARMA draft provides no exact acquisition target. Instead, the bill directs the Treasury and Commerce Department to study whether additional acquisitions could be carried out through "budget-neutral" mechanisms. The legislation lists potential acquisition methods, including converting non-bitcoin assets, gold certificate revaluations, forfeiture proceedings, tariff revenues, and partnerships with states. The bill also requires federal agencies to provide a full accounting of digital assets under their control within 60 days of enactment.

Unofficial data from Arkham Intelligence pegs the current value of all U.S. government crypto holdings at roughly $26 billion, largely comprised of bitcoin, ether, and USDT.

Oversight and Transparency Requirements

ARMA establishes quarterly public proof-of-reserve reports, independent audits, and congressional oversight mechanisms to maintain transparency. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reaffirmed the administration's approach in January, stating: "The policy of this government is to add seized bitcoin to our digital asset reserve after the damages are done. So the bitcoin reserve, our view, was first you have to stop selling, which we have done, and then we can add the assets and asset forfeitures."

The legislation builds on Trump's executive order signed in 2025 to create a bitcoin reserve and digital asset stockpile, primarily funded through bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies already held by the federal government through criminal and civil forfeitures.