U.S. House Advances Bitcoin Reserve Bill After CLARITY Act Setback
The U.S. House Financial Services Committee has advanced legislation that would establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve under federal law, moving the proposal forward one day after the Senate failed to advance a separate cryptocurrency market-structure bill.
The American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026 (H.R. 8957) passed the House committee by a 28–21 vote on September 16. The bill would place qualifying Bitcoin held by the federal government under Treasury custody and require Bitcoin transferred to the proposed reserve to remain there for at least 20 years.
The measure also calls for a separate Digital Asset Stockpile covering other qualifying digital assets. The committee vote does not make the reserve law, as the bill still needs to pass the full House and Senate before reaching the president.
House Committee Advances Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Bill
TheAmerican Reserve Modernization Act would create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve within the U.S. Treasury for Bitcoin acquired by the federal government through qualifying criminal and civil forfeitures. A separate Digital Asset Stockpile would cover other digital assets obtained through similar means.
The House Financial Services Committee approved the legislation 28–21 on September 16. The measure was introduced in May by Representative Nick Begich and would establish a legal framework for assets that are currently held by the federal government. Reports citing Arkham Intelligence estimate that the U.S. government holds roughly 324,527 Bitcoin, although the federal government has not published a reconciled official figure for its total holdings.
One of the bill’s main provisions is a minimum 20-year holding period for Bitcoin transferred into the reserve. Under the committee-approved version, the assets generally could not be sold, exchanged, auctioned or otherwise disposed of during this period. The legislation would also require the Treasury to maintain records of government digital-asset holdings and provide public reporting on the reserve.
The measure is intended to put the federal government’s Bitcoin holdings under a centralized Treasury framework. Representative Bryan Steil, who worked on the committee version, said the legislation would address what he described as fragmented government custody of digital assets. These comments describe the sponsors’ rationale for the bill rather than establishing its effects if enacted.
The committee vote only advances the proposal to the next stage of the legislative process. It still requires approval by the full House and Senate, followed by presidential approval, before becoming federal law. No House floor vote date had been set in the latest reports.
Bitcoin Reserve Vote Follows CLARITY Act Setback
The House committee’s action came shortly after the Senate failed to advance theDigital Asset Market CLARITY Act, creating a notable sequence of cryptocurrency policy developments in Washington. On September 15, the Senate voted 49–50 on a procedural motion needed to move the CLARITY Act forward. The measure needed 60 votes to advance. The bill was designed to establish a broader regulatory framework for digital assets and clarify the respective roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The Senate setback has added uncertainty around the timetable for federal cryptocurrency legislation, but it did not prevent other digital-asset proposals from moving through the House. The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill addresses a different issue from the CLARITY Act: rather than establishing the broader regulatory structure for the crypto market, H.R. 8957 focuses on how Bitcoin already held or acquired by the federal government would be managed.
The timing has also drawn attention from cryptocurrency users and commentators on X, where the House committee vote has been discussed alongside the failed CLARITY Act vote. The CLARITY Act remains stalled after its Senate procedural vote, while the American Reserve Modernization Act has moved forward in the House. The Bitcoin reserve proposal still has several stages to clear before it could become law, meaning the committee vote represents progress on the legislation rather than the creation of a federal Bitcoin reserve itself.
