New strategic bitcoin reserve bill drops 1 million BTC purchase target, adds 20-year lockup period

New bipartisan legislation introduced in the House on Thursday would lock U.S. government bitcoin holdings into a strategic reserve for at least twenty years.

It is the latest congressional push to codify President Donald Trump's 2025 executive order to establish a national bitcoin stockpile. 

The bill's author, Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, alongside co-lead Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, introduced the "American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026," or ARMA, to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and separate Digital Asset Stockpile for non-bitcoin assets held by the federal government and managed by the Treasury.

According to the bill text obtained by the Block, ARMA would require all bitcoin (BTC) deposited into the reserve to sit there for a minimum of 20 years, barring the government from "selling, swapping, auctioning, encumbering, or otherwise disposing of" the assets for any reason.

After the lockup period expires, the Treasury secretary could then recommend selling up to 10% of the reserve's assets in any two-year period.

"America should not be selling off strategic digital assets. We should be securing them for the future," Rep. Mike Rulli, R-Ohio, said in a statement. "This bill takes a long-term approach by requiring the United States to responsibly hold Bitcoin as part of a modern reserve strategy."

The legislation builds on Trump's executive order signed last year to create a bitcoin reserve and digital asset stockpile, mostly funded through bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies already held by the federal government through criminal and civil forfeitures. This plan was reaffirmed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in January.

"The policy of this government is to add seized bitcoin to our digital asset reserve after the damages are done," Bessent commented at the time. "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."

ARMA specifics

Unlike earlier BITCOIN Act proposals that discussed acquiring up to 1 million bitcoin over five years, the ARMA draft gives no exact target and instead directs Treasury and Commerce to study whether additional acquisitions could be carried out through "budget-neutral" mechanisms.

The bill lists potential acquisition methods, like converting non-bitcoin assets, gold certificate revaluations, forfeiture proceedings, tariff revenues, and partnerships with states.

The bill would also require 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.

ARMA would also establish quarterly public proof-of-reserve reports, independent audits, and other congressional oversight to keep things transparent.