The whole legislative textual content for bitcoin-favorite invoice H.R. 8957, the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026, has been made public on the U.S. Congress web site, providing lawmakers, trade stakeholders, and the general public their first detailed take a look at the mechanics behind a invoice that may completely codify a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve into federal legislation.
The invoice, launched Could 21 by Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK) alongside co-lead Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) and greater than 20 co-sponsors, was referred to the Home Committee on Monetary Companies upon introduction.
Whereas the laws’s broad contours — consolidating federally held Bitcoin beneath Treasury oversight and constructing on President Trump’s March 2025 govt order — had been recognized at introduction, the complete textual content reveals a sweeping structure of custody guidelines, transparency necessities, and acquisition guardrails that go properly past the chief motion it seeks to codify.
Central to the invoice is a compulsory 20-year holding interval on all BTC deposited into the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, throughout which no holdings could also be “sold, swapped, auctioned, encumbered, or otherwise disposed of for any purpose”.
That lock-up clock resets with every new deposit, that means BTC seized by means of prison or civil forfeiture proceedings — designated within the invoice as “qualifying Bitcoin” — can be primarily untouchable for twenty years upon switch to the reserve.
After that interval, the Treasury Secretary could suggest offloading not more than 10% of reserve belongings throughout any two-year window, topic to Congressional evaluate.
Proof of Reserves for U.S. Bitcoin
The complete textual content additionally mandates a “Proof of Reserve” system requiring quarterly public cryptographic attestations of all holdings, impartial third-party audits, and Comptroller Basic oversight — a stage of on-chain transparency unprecedented for a federal monetary program.
Non-Bitcoin digital belongings acquired by the federal government, resembling Ethereum or different forfeited cryptocurrencies, can be held in a separate Digital Asset Stockpile, with proceeds from any inclinations directed towards increasing the Bitcoin reserve or lowering the nationwide debt.
Maybe notably, the invoice explicitly prohibits the federal government from utilizing any new borrowing, new taxes, or deficit spending to amass BTC.
As a substitute, it directs the Treasury and Commerce Departments to collectively examine budget-neutral acquisition pathways inside 180 days of enactment — together with conversion of non-Bitcoin stockpile belongings, Federal Reserve surplus remittances, and gold certificates revaluations.
The invoice additionally opens a voluntary state participation program, permitting states to retailer their very own BTC holdings in segregated Treasury accounts, whereas affirming that no provision could also be construed to authorize seizure of privately held Bitcoin.
The invoice now awaits motion within the Home Monetary Companies Committee.
