The U.S. House Financial Services Committee voted 28-21 on September 16, 2026 to advance H.R. 8957, the American Reserve Modernization Act, the first Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill to clear a full congressional committee. The measure would convert President Trump's March 2025 executive order into...
"Federal bitcoin should not be left to languish in fragmented and inconsistent custody." — Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), House Financial Services Committee
The U.S. House Financial Services Committee voted 28-21 on September 16, 2026 to advance H.R. 8957, the American Reserve Modernization Act, the first Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill to clear a full congressional committee. The measure would convert President Trump's March 2025 executive order into federal statute, locking approximately 207,000 BTC held by the government into a 20-year mandatory holding period and establishing Treasury-managed custody infrastructure.
The vote split along strict party lines — 28 Republicans in favor, 21 Democrats opposed. Despite clearing its first legislative gate, prediction markets on Polymarket price the probability of the bill becoming law before 2027 at 6%, down from 60% in December 2025. Bitcoin traded at $76,345 on September 17, up 0.6% in 24 hours, a muted response that suggests the market is discounting the bill's full-chamber prospects.
Separately, the House Ways and Means Committee advanced the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act (H.R. 10357) by 38-5 on the same day, marking the first bipartisan legislative action on substantive crypto taxation in U.S. history.
The House Financial Services Committee markup on September 16 lasted several hours. Chairman French Hill (R-AR) characterized H.R. 8957 as "a common-sense measure that brings digital assets held across federal agencies under Treasury custody and consistent oversight."
The committee adopted Rep. Bryan Steil's (R-WI) replacement text by voice vote before the full committee vote. Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) offered an amendment that would have restricted elected officials and their immediate family members from holding digital assets or receiving compensation related to cryptocurrency. It failed 21-28 on the same party-line split.
The final 28-21 tally represented all 28 Republicans voting in favor and all 21 Democrats voting against. Co-lead sponsor Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) was the only Democratic cosponsor on the original bill.
H.R. 8957, the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026, is a 19-page bill introduced on May 21, 2026 by Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK) with 23 cosponsors. Its core provisions:
Strategic Bitcoin Reserve: Establishes a formal reserve under Treasury Department management. All bitcoin held by the federal government through criminal and civil forfeiture must be deposited into the reserve.
20-Year Lockup: Once deposited, no bitcoin may be "sold, swapped, auctioned, encumbered, or otherwise disposed of for any purpose" for 20 years. This converts the executive order's no-sell directive into statutory obligation.
Custody Infrastructure: Treasury has 180 days from enactment to establish a dedicated secure storage facility for the reserve's bitcoin holdings.
Digital Asset Stockpile: Creates a separate holding vehicle for non-bitcoin digital assets seized by federal agencies.
Agency Accounting: Every federal agency must account for its digital asset holdings within 60 days of enactment.
State Participation: Opens a voluntary program allowing U.S. states to store their own bitcoin in segregated Treasury accounts. The bill explicitly prohibits any construction that would authorize seizure of privately held bitcoin.
Audit and Reporting: Requires annual proof-of-reserve reports — verified by independent third-party auditors with cryptographic-attestation expertise — published on the Treasury's website. Reports must detail total holdings, all transactions, and cryptographic proof of private key control.
The committee-approved substitute text, introduced by Rep. Steil, made several modifications to the original bill:
The removal of Federal Reserve remittance provisions is notable. The original text had proposed channeling Fed surplus income toward bitcoin purchases — a mechanism that raised constitutional separation-of-powers concerns according to legal analysis from the Congressional Research Service.
The U.S. government holds approximately 207,000 BTC, making it the largest government bitcoin holder globally. At current prices ($76,345 as of September 17), that stockpile is valued at approximately $15.8 billion.
The holdings derive entirely from law enforcement seizures:
| Source | Approximate BTC | Status | |--------|----------------|--------| | Prince Holding Group / Chen Zhi | ~127,271 | Seized, in litigation | | Silk Road recoveries (James Zhong, Individual X) | ~94,679 | Government custody | | Various smaller seizures | Remainder | Government custody |
No open-market purchases have been made. The March 2025 executive order established the reserve using existing seized assets and prohibited their sale. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated in mid-2026 that the reserve was proceeding at "deliberate speed."
H.R. 8957 does not authorize new bitcoin purchases. That authority sits in separate legislation: the BITCOIN Act (S.954 in the Senate, H.R. 2032 in the House), introduced by Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Rep. Begich.
The BITCOIN Act would direct Treasury to purchase 200,000 BTC annually for five years, bringing total holdings to approximately 1 million BTC. At current prices, that would represent roughly $76.3 billion in accumulated value.
Senator Lummis has reintroduced her acquisition plan as the House bill advances, but neither chamber has scheduled the BITCOIN Act for committee markup. The two bills are designed as complementary: H.R. 8957 establishes the custody and governance framework, while the BITCOIN Act would fund actual accumulation.
The party-line vote reflects deepening partisan division on crypto policy. The September 15 failure of the CLARITY Act — the comprehensive crypto market-structure bill — in a 49-50 Senate vote set the context. That loss triggered $300 million in liquidations and a bitcoin price drop from $79,000 to the mid-$75,000 range.
Democratic opposition centered on several arguments:
The bill faces additional structural obstacles. The Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel is mediating a turf dispute among Treasury, Commerce, and Justice over custody and oversight jurisdiction. The tight congressional calendar ahead of November midterm elections further constrains floor time.
Bitcoin's price response was restrained. BTC traded at $76,345 on September 17, up 0.6% over 24 hours. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index stood at 50 (Neutral), down from 69 (Greed) a week earlier.
BTC ETF flows were negative $450 million on September 15, reflecting broader risk-off sentiment driven by the Fed's first rate hike since 2023 — a 25 bps increase to 3.75%-4.00% announced the same week.
Polymarket's "US national Bitcoin reserve before 2027" contract traded at 6% probability ($61,139 in total volume), suggesting the market views the bill's passage this Congress as unlikely. The contract traded as high as 60% in December 2025 when executive-order momentum peaked.
On the same day, the House Ways and Means Committee voted 38-5 to advance the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act (H.R. 10357), a significantly more bipartisan outcome.
Key provisions of the tax bill:
The 38-5 bipartisan margin stands in contrast to the 28-21 party-line split on the reserve bill, indicating that tax clarity commands broader political support than sovereign bitcoin accumulation.
H.R. 8957 must now pass the full House, survive Senate consideration, and receive presidential signature. No Senate companion bill has advanced through committee. The House Rules Committee must first schedule floor debate.
Key variables:
Rep. Begich has framed urgency around the midterm timeline, stating that Congress has a six-month window to act. He has described the reserve as "the new Fort Knox."
The September 16 committee vote is a procedural milestone, not a policy outcome. H.R. 8957 is the furthest any bitcoin reserve legislation has advanced in Congress, but the gap between committee passage and signed law remains wide. Polymarket's 6% probability reflects the structural barriers: party-line support, an unreceptive Senate, interagency disputes, and compressed legislative calendars.
The more consequential signal may be the 38-5 crypto tax vote. Bipartisan tax clarity for 67 million crypto-holding Americans has broader political utility than a sovereign bitcoin reserve, particularly ahead of midterm elections. If either bill reaches the president's desk before the 119th Congress adjourns, the tax framework is the more likely candidate.
The strategic reserve, for now, continues to operate under executive authority — functional but impermanent.