A US House committee has advanced a bill that would write 
Donald Trump's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve into law. The House Committee on Financial Services approved the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026, H.R. 8957, in a 28-21 vote on Wednesday, Cointelegraph reported. Bitcoin in the reserve would have to be held for a minimum of 20 years under the bill, which The Block reported would codify the president's plan for permanent bitcoin holdings.
The bill would establish the reserve and a separate Digital Asset Stockpile within the Treasury Department for bitcoin and other digital assets the federal government acquires through criminal or civil forfeiture, Cointelegraph reported. All federal agencies would have to provide a full accounting of the digital assets the government currently holds or controls, and the bill sets out transparency measures including quarterly "proof of reserve" reports and third-party audits. It would also direct a study of budget-neutral acquisition strategies for expanding the reserve and allow states to store their bitcoin in the Federal Reserve. The text affirms private ownership and self-custody rights, describing control of private keys as "fundamental to the principles of financial sovereignty, privacy, and personal liberty in the digital age." The US government holds an estimated 324,527 bitcoin, worth $24.7 billion at the time of the report, by Arkham Intelligence's count.
Representative Nicholas Begich, who introduced the bill on May 21, said bitcoin held by the federal government could not be allowed "to languish in fragmented and inconsistent custody," Cointelegraph reported. Such custody, he said, "poses unacceptable cybersecurity risks and fails to give an adequate accounting of what the federal government actually owns." Connor Brown, executive director of the Bitcoin Policy Institute, on Wednesday called the bill a "genuinely historic step for Bitcoin policy," while Strive CEO Matt Cole said in May that it was "the single most important crypto legislation that can come out of DC." The committee's approval clears one hurdle, but the bill still needs to pass the full House and the Senate before reaching the president's desk.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
