The House Financial Services Committee has advanced legislation that would place the federal Strategic Bitcoin Reserve on a statutory footing. H.R. 8957, the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026, was ordered favorably reported to the full House by a 28-21 vote on September 16, according to the committee’s official markup record.
Before the final vote, lawmakers adopted by voice vote a substitute amendment offered by Rep. Bryan Steil. The amended bill would establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a separate Digital Asset Stockpile within the Treasury Department no later than 180 days after enactment. The framework would give statutory form to a reserve policy President Donald Trump established by executive order in March 2025.
Bitcoin Would Face a 20-Year Hold
The legislation would centralize qualifying federal digital assets rather than automatically sweep every seized asset into the reserve. Federal agencies would have 60 days after enactment to provide Treasury with a complete accounting of Bitcoin and other digital assets they hold, seize or otherwise control. Until the reserve infrastructure is established, agencies would transfer qualifying assets to Treasury when practicable and consistent with applicable law.
Once the two facilities are established, qualifying holdings would have to move into the appropriate Treasury structure within 30 days. Bitcoin deposited in the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve would then face a minimum 20-year holding period beginning from enactment, during which it could not be sold, swapped, auctioned, encumbered or otherwise disposed of.
The substitute also specifies what happens after that period. Two years before the 20-year restriction expires, Treasury would submit recommendations to Congress on continued retention or a gradual release, and after expiration the secretary could recommend selling up to 10% of reserve assets during any two-year period. Sale processes would require rulemaking and public disclosures intended to limit market disruption.
Proof of Reserve Becomes Annual
Transparency requirements changed significantly during the committee process. The amended legislation requires an annual public Proof of Reserve report rather than the quarterly reporting contained in the introduced version. That disclosure would cover total holdings, transactions and control of private keys and would be verified by an independent third-party auditor experienced in cryptographic attestations, with additional oversight from the Comptroller General.
Non-Bitcoin assets would remain segregated inside the Digital Asset Stockpile. Treasury could dispose of qualifying stockpile assets under a rule-based process, with proceeds first covering management costs and any excess going to the Treasury to reduce the national debt. The bill therefore distinguishes the long-term Bitcoin reserve from a more actively managed portfolio of other federally owned digital assets.
The bill separately directs Treasury and Commerce to study lawful ways to acquire additional Bitcoin without increasing federal costs. That study may examine transactions involving non-Bitcoin stockpile assets, forfeitures and cooperative arrangements, but it does not itself authorize purchases. The text expressly says the provision cannot be read as authority for new borrowing, taxation, deficit spending or pledging federal assets as collateral.
The legislation also contains protections concerning privately held digital assets. It states that nothing in the bill authorizes federal confiscation of lawfully acquired Bitcoin and expresses Congress’s view that individuals should retain the ability to self-custody private keys. Those provisions sit alongside the federal custody framework rather than transferring privately owned assets into the reserve.
H.R. 8957 has cleared the committee stage but has not become law. The next legislative step is consideration by the full House, after which any measure would still need Senate approval in identical form and presidential signature before the statutory Strategic Bitcoin Reserve framework could take effect.
