A House committee advanced a bill on Sept. 16 that would bar the federal government from selling Bitcoin it holds for 20 years and require annual independently audited reports on the reserve. The measure also orders a study on buying more Bitcoin, but sets up no purchase program.
The House Financial Services Committee voted 28-21 to advance H.R. 8957, the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026, moving the bill past its introduction stage. Lawmakers still must take further action before its custody and holding rules become law.
A two-decade hold tied to enactment
Section 5 of the adopted substitute would require Bitcoin placed in the reserve to stay there for at least 20 years from enactment, regardless of when it was acquired. During that stretch, the text bars selling, swapping, auctioning or otherwise disposing of the coins. The clock starts at enactment, not at the committee vote, so the vote alone does not begin the hold.
The bill builds on President Donald Trump's March 6, 2025 order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a separate digital asset stockpile, which also restricted disposal and directed Treasury and Commerce to design budget-neutral acquisition strategies. Sponsored by Rep. Nicholas Begich, the new bill would place qualifying federal Bitcoin in the reserve and other qualifying digital assets in a separate stockpile, while excluding assets legally required for other purposes.
Audited custody and a study on buying more
Section 6 would require public cryptographic proof of reserves plus an annual report on holdings, transactions and control of private keys, verified by an independent auditor. Agencies would give Treasury a full accounting of their Bitcoin and other digital assets within 60 days of enactment, then annually, and qualifying holdings would move into the reserve or stockpile within 30 days after those structures are set up.
Section 9 gives Treasury and Commerce 180 days from enactment to study the risks, costs and potential benefits of acquiring additional Bitcoin, including whether purchases could be budget neutral. That provision orders a study, not a buying program.
Source: CryptoSlate
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