House panel advances Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill

On September 16, 2026, the House Financial Services Committee voted 28 to 21 to advance H.R. 8957, a bill that would write the federal Strategic Bitcoin Reserve into law.

The bill is the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026. Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK) introduced it on May 21, 2026, and Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) is its co-lead. The text the committee advanced is not the introduced version. It is a full substitute offered by Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), and the bill was reported as amended.

The reserve was already established by an executive order President Trump signed on March 6, 2025. The bill would change its legal footing and some of its rules.

The vote

The committee's roll call, record vote FC-317, shows the motion to report the bill favorably passed 28 to 21, with four members not recorded. The split was along party lines. All 28 yes votes came from Republicans, including Chairman French Hill, and all 21 no votes came from Democrats, including Ranking Member Maxine Waters.

Waters also offered an addition that would have barred the President, the Vice President, members of Congress, and certain family members from issuing, promoting, or taking compensation from digital assets, among other limits. It failed 21 to 28 on the same party-line pattern.

What the bill would do

The core of the reported text is custody and a lock on selling.

• Two Treasury accounts. Within 180 days of enactment, Treasury must set up a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve for "qualifying Bitcoin" and a separate Digital Asset Stockpile for every other digital asset the government owns.
• What goes in. Qualifying bitcoin means bitcoin the government owns and is not legally required to use for something else, mainly coins finally forfeited in criminal or civil cases or taken as civil penalties. Existing forfeiture laws stay in force, and before the reserve is set up, agencies may still release seized coins to identifiable crime victims or when a court orders it.
• Consolidation. Every federal agency must give Treasury a full accounting of its bitcoin and other digital assets within 60 days of enactment and every year after that. Holdings move into the reserve or stockpile within 30 days of the accounts being set up.
• A 20-year hold. Bitcoin in the reserve may not be "sold, swapped, auctioned, encumbered, or otherwise disposed of for any purpose" for at least 20 years from the date of enactment.
• Proof of reserve. Treasury must publish an annual report on total holdings, transactions, and control of the private key material, checked by an independent auditor, with the Government Accountability Office overseeing both.
• State accounts. Within a year, Treasury must let states store their own bitcoin in segregated accounts inside the reserve, keeping title and the custody risk.

Coins that arrive from a fork or an airdrop must be kept for one year, after which Treasury keeps the forked asset with the largest market capitalization and may sell the rest.

What the committee changed

Buying more bitcoin: a study, not a mandate

The bill does not authorize the government to buy bitcoin, and it sets no target amount or schedule. Section 9 instead orders the Treasury and Commerce secretaries to study, within 180 days of enactment, the risks, costs, and benefits of acquiring more.

The study must look at whether any acquisition can be budget-neutral, which the text defines as requiring no new appropriations and not increasing the national debt, nominally or economically. The routes it names are swapping other digital assets from the stockpile, further forfeitures and settlements, and cooperation with states, private entities, or foreign partners.

A rule of construction closes the section. Nothing in it authorizes borrowing, pledging government assets as collateral, new taxes, or deficit spending to buy bitcoin.

How it relates to the 2025 executive order

The March 6, 2025 order, "Establishment of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and United States Digital Asset Stockpile," already capitalizes the reserve with forfeited bitcoin and says those coins "shall not be sold." It also directs Treasury and Commerce to develop budget-neutral ways to acquire more.

The bill would move those arrangements from an executive order into statute. A future president can revoke or rewrite an executive order alone. Changing a statute takes another act of Congress. The bill also adds things the order does not have: a fixed minimum holding period, a Congress-facing audit and reporting regime, the state account program, and rules for how any eventual sale must be run.

Sales are not permanently barred. Two years before the 20-year hold ends, Treasury must send Congress a recommendation, and after it ends Treasury may recommend selling up to 10 percent of the reserve in any two-year period. A separate study, due within a year of enactment, must describe conditions under which an earlier sale might be appropriate, such as national security.

What has to happen before it becomes law

Several steps remain:

1. The committee files its written report, and House leadership decides whether and when to bring the bill to the floor. Press coverage after the markup reported no floor date.
2. The full House must pass it.
3. The Senate must pass identical text. Most legislation there needs 60 votes to end debate, and press coverage of the markup reported that no Senate companion has advanced.
4. The President must sign it.

The 119th Congress ends on January 3, 2027. A bill that has not been enacted by then lapses and would have to be reintroduced.

What it does not change for an individual buyer

For someone buying bitcoin, nothing changes either way. The bill does not touch exchange rules, identity checks, fees, or how gains are taxed. Section 10 says the act does not authorize the government to seize lawfully acquired bitcoin or restrict anyone's right to buy, hold, transfer, or sell it. It also includes a sense of Congress endorsing self custody of private keys.

How to buy and whether you're allowed to are still governed by existing federal and state rules, summarized in our guide to crypto's legal status in the United States. This month's other policy news, including the Senate vote on market-structure legislation, is covered elsewhere on the blog.

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