The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services voted 28-21 along party lines to advance the American Reserve Modernization Act, moving Congress a step closer to codifying a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve into law. The bill would lock up all government-held Bitcoin for at least 20 years and study budget-neutral ways to expand it, but it still faces a full House vote and a difficult path amid partisan splits over crypto legislation.
Committee advances the reserve bill
The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services voted 28-21 along party lines to advance the American Reserve Modernization Act (ARMA) of 2026. The vote brings the bill one step closer to a full House vote. Bitcoin traded roughly 0.7% higher as of the report.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order during his first year in office to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile. However, little news followed on whether the order would amount to more than a directive, until lawmakers began moving to codify it into law.
What the bill would require
ARMA would require the federal government to hold all Bitcoin currently in its possession for at least two decades. The crypto intelligence platform Arkham estimates that over $25 billion worth of Bitcoin is under government control.
All federal agencies would need to disclose their digital asset holdings and create accounting practices, such as "proof of reserve" reports. The bill would also order a study of budget-neutral ways the government could expand the reserve.
U.S. Representative Nicholas Begich (R-AK), a co-sponsor of the bill, said, according to Cointelegraph: "It poses unacceptable cybersecurity risks."
ARMA would also create a Digital Asset Stockpile. It isn't clear which cryptocurrencies would be included, though in March 2025 Trump named Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and Cardano as other cryptocurrencies included in a "Crypto Strategic Reserve."
A long path remains before passage
Securing passage of ARMA would carry more weight than Trump's executive order, since an order can be reversed by a future president and holds more limited power over federal funding. But passing crypto legislation through Congress has proven difficult, as shown by the Clarity Act.
Democrats are unhappy about the money Trump has reportedly made through his crypto ventures and want stronger ethics provisions included. The committee vote splitting along party lines signals that resistance, and time is short before the midterm elections, when Democrats could reclaim control of the House.
Source: The Motley Fool
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