The United States holds 328,372 BTC — roughly $21.6 billion at current prices — making it the largest sovereign Bitcoin holder globally. All of it was acquired through law enforcement seizures, not open-market purchases. No statutory framework governs how the reserve is managed, expanded, or audi...
"Bitcoin that has been finally forfeited to the federal government will be the foundation of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve that President Trump established in his March Executive Order. In addition, Treasury is committed to exploring budget-neutral pathways to acquire more." — Scott Bessent, U.S. Treasury Secretary
The United States holds 328,372 BTC — roughly $21.6 billion at current prices — making it the largest sovereign Bitcoin holder globally. All of it was acquired through law enforcement seizures, not open-market purchases. No statutory framework governs how the reserve is managed, expanded, or audited.
Two competing bills now seek to change that. The BITCOIN Act (S.954), introduced by Senator Cynthia Lummis, directs Treasury to buy 200,000 BTC per year for five years — 1 million BTC total — funded by Federal Reserve surplus remittances and gold certificate revaluation. The American Reserve Modernization Act (ARMA), introduced May 21, 2026 by Representatives Nick Begich (R-AK) and Jared Golden (D-ME) with 17 co-sponsors, takes a more cautious approach: it mandates no purchases, instead commissioning a 180-day budget-neutral acquisition study while imposing a 20-year lockup on all federally held Bitcoin and requiring quarterly proof-of-reserve reports.
Treasury Secretary Bessent testified before the Senate Finance Committee on June 3, 2026 that the reserve was progressing "with all deliberate speed" and urged Congress to pass the CLARITY Act "this summer." No bill has yet reached a floor vote. The operative legal authority remains Executive Order 14233, signed March 6, 2025, which established the reserve and directed federal agencies to consolidate holdings but carries no congressional appropriation.
The U.S. government's Bitcoin holdings derive entirely from criminal forfeitures accumulated over more than a decade of federal law enforcement operations. The three largest sources:
As of June 15, 2026, BTC trades at approximately $65,700, valuing the combined 328,372 BTC reserve at roughly $21.6 billion. The decline in dollar terms from the October 2025 peak reflects Bitcoin's price movement, not any sale of holdings. Executive Order 14233 explicitly bars the sale, swap, auction, or disposal of reserve Bitcoin.
Prior to the executive order, government agencies had routinely auctioned seized Bitcoin. The U.S. Marshals Service conducted multiple auctions between 2014 and 2024, collectively selling tens of thousands of BTC at prices that now represent a fraction of current market value.
Two bills are vying to codify the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve into law. They differ substantially in ambition and mechanism.
Introduced by Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), the Boosting Innovation, Technology, and Competitiveness through Optimized Investment Nationwide Act directs Treasury to:
The bill currently sits with the Senate Banking Committee. No markup has been scheduled.
The American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026, introduced May 21 by Reps. Begich and Golden, takes a different tack:
ARMA launched with 17 original co-sponsors, primarily Republican, with Golden providing the Democratic cross-aisle backing. Co-sponsors include Representatives from Georgia, Virginia, Alabama, Utah, Iowa, Ohio, New York, West Virginia, and North Carolina.
The operative legal framework remains the March 6, 2025 executive order signed by President Trump. It directed federal agencies to:
The order carries no congressional appropriation and could be revoked by a future administration without legislative action.
Both the BITCOIN Act and ARMA reference gold certificate revaluation as a potential funding source. The mechanics are straightforward but politically contentious.
The Federal Reserve holds gold certificates issued by the Treasury, valued at the statutory price of $42.22 per troy ounce — a price established by Congress in 1973 when the U.S. formally abandoned the gold standard. The U.S. gold stockpile totals 261.5 million troy ounces, the largest in the world.
At the statutory price, these certificates are carried on the Fed's balance sheet at approximately $11 billion. At the current market price of roughly $4,339 per ounce (as of June 15, 2026), the same gold is worth approximately $1.13 trillion.
Revaluing the certificates to market price would generate a paper gain of approximately $1.12 trillion. The BITCOIN Act proposes using a portion of this revaluation gain — channeled through Fed surplus remittances to Treasury — to fund Bitcoin purchases.
The mechanism has precedent. The Gold Reserve Act of 1934 revalued gold from $20.67 to $35 per ounce, generating a $2.8 billion profit used to establish the Exchange Stabilization Fund. However, a Federal Reserve Board of Governors note published in August 2025 cautioned that modern revaluations carry different monetary implications and could be perceived as monetizing the balance sheet.
Critics including former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers have questioned the economic rationale. Summers stated he could not identify "what crisis for which we would need to prepare through a Bitcoin or crypto reserve." Economist Peter Schiff argued the approach would "accelerate" the dollar's decline by effectively expanding the monetary base to purchase a volatile asset.
The U.S. is not alone in holding sovereign Bitcoin, but it holds the largest position by a wide margin.
| Country | Estimated BTC Holdings | Estimated Value (June 2026) | Acquisition Method | |---|---|---|---| | United States | 328,372 BTC | ~$21.6B | Law enforcement seizures | | Bhutan | ~13,029 BTC | ~$856M | State-linked hydroelectric mining | | El Salvador | ~6,002 BTC | ~$394M | Direct purchases (DCA program) |
El Salvador remains the only nation that has purchased Bitcoin using public funds as declared policy, maintaining a dollar-cost-averaging program of 1 BTC per day since 2021. The International Monetary Fund has conditioned certain aspects of its lending agreements on El Salvador reducing its Bitcoin exposure — a constraint the country has largely resisted.
Bhutan's approach is distinct: the kingdom mines Bitcoin using abundant hydroelectric power, accumulating reserves without spending foreign currency.
Bulgaria and China are estimated to hold seized Bitcoin from law enforcement actions, though neither government has publicly confirmed current holdings or reserve policy.
The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve intersects with a U.S. fiscal picture that is deteriorating by most conventional measures. The national debt crossed $39 trillion in March 2026, adding $1 trillion in under five months. The Congressional Budget Office projects deficits rising to $1.9 trillion in fiscal 2026 and $3.1 trillion by 2036, with debt held by the public reaching $56 trillion (120% of GDP) by the end of that period.
Proponents cite a VanEck analysis estimating that a 1-million-BTC reserve — assuming 25% annual Bitcoin price appreciation — could offset $42 trillion in national debt by 2049 and reduce the debt burden by 36%. This projection requires Bitcoin to compound at 25% annually for 23 years, a rate well above the long-term performance of any major asset class over comparable periods.
The counterarguments are material:
The legislative calendar presents a narrow window. Treasury Secretary Bessent urged passage of the CLARITY Act "this summer," signaling the administration views the current Congress as the optimal vehicle. However, the CLARITY Act addresses market structure, not the reserve specifically.
For reserve codification, analysts point to two potential vehicles:
Without congressional action, the reserve remains governed solely by executive order — a structure that lacks permanence and appropriation authority.
The U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve exists in legal limbo. Executive Order 14233 prohibits the sale of 328,372 forfeited BTC but provides no statutory authority for expansion, no appropriated funds for acquisition, and no permanence beyond the current administration.
The BITCOIN Act and ARMA represent two different theories of how to resolve this. Lummis's bill is maximalist: buy 1 million BTC over five years, funded by gold revaluation. ARMA is procedural: study the question, lock what exists, and audit it quarterly. Both require the same political constituency to pass — a bipartisan coalition willing to classify Bitcoin alongside gold and foreign currency as a strategic reserve asset.
The gold revaluation mechanism is the linchpin. It offers a path to budget-neutral acquisition that avoids new taxes or borrowing, but it requires rewriting a 50-year-old statutory price and accepting the monetary policy implications of marking $1.12 trillion in unrealized gains.
Treasury Secretary Bessent's June 3 testimony suggests the administration is actively pushing for legislative action this summer. Whether Congress moves on a standalone bill or attaches reserve provisions to the NDAA will likely determine whether the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve becomes a permanent feature of fiscal policy or remains a single-administration experiment.