The entire 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, business 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 regulation.
The invoice, launched Might 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 below Treasury oversight and constructing on President Trump’s March 2025 govt order — have been recognized at introduction, the total textual content reveals a sweeping structure of custody guidelines, transparency necessities, and acquisition guardrails that go nicely 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 “offered, swapped, auctioned, encumbered, or in any other case disposed of for any objective”.
That lock-up clock resets with every new deposit, that means BTC seized via prison or civil forfeiture proceedings — designated within the invoice as “qualifying Bitcoin” — can be basically untouchable for 20 years upon switch to the reserve.
After that interval, the Treasury Secretary might suggest offloading not more than 10% of reserve property throughout any two-year window, topic to Congressional evaluate.
Proof of Reserves for U.S. Bitcoin
The total textual content additionally mandates a “Proof of Reserve” system requiring quarterly public cryptographic attestations of all holdings, unbiased third-party audits, and Comptroller Common oversight — a stage of on-chain transparency unprecedented for a federal monetary program.
Non-Bitcoin digital property acquired by the federal government, reminiscent of 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 decreasing the nationwide debt.
Maybe notably, the invoice explicitly prohibits the federal government from utilizing any new borrowing, new taxes, or deficit spending to accumulate BTC.
As a substitute, it directs the Treasury and Commerce Departments to collectively research budget-neutral acquisition pathways inside 180 days of enactment — together with conversion of non-Bitcoin stockpile property, 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.
