Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, introduced legislation on Thursday to permanently establish a U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, unveil American Reserve Modernization Act (ARMA) – A bill designed to codify President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order and give the reserve a permanent legal basis in law.
The measure, which has bipartisan support and more than a dozen co-sponsors in Congress, would task the Treasury Department with overseeing the reserve while creating a separate stockpile of federally owned cryptocurrency digital assets other than bitcoin. Begich made a direct comparison between Bitcoin and gold, arguing that the market has already identified both assets as dominant stores of value in their categories.
“When you look at gold, it is the dominant reserve of precious metals,” Begich says He said Fox Business. “When you look at bitcoin, it represents about 60% of the total market cap of the entire cryptocurrency space. So the market has decided, in the case of gold and in the case of bitcoin, that this is going to be the dominant store of value within that asset class.”
ARMA is based on the previous BITCOIN code, which was originally by Begich foot In March 2025 alongside Senator Cynthia Lummis. The updated legislation would allow the Treasury to hold up to 200,000 bitcoins per year for five years — targeting a total of 1 million bitcoins, or roughly 5% of the global supply — with all holdings secured for at least 20 years.
The US government currently holds an estimated 328,372 bitcoins accumulated through law enforcement seizures, including the proceeds of the Silk Road takedown and recovery of the Bitfinex hack in 2022.
The treatment of Bitcoin in the United States needs to change
Congress co-sponsor Rep. Pat Harrigan emphasized the urgent need to give this existing stock a strategic home. “The US government already holds billions of dollars in confiscated bitcoin without a cohesive strategy to manage it, and this needs to change,” Harrigan said.
The bill’s introduction comes amid a broader wave of cryptocurrency-friendly legislative momentum in Washington. Senate Banking Committee Pass The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act passed on a bipartisan vote of 15-9 on May 13, bringing the comprehensive regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency industry to the floor of the full Senate.
Two Democrats — Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland — crossed the aisle to support the measure. Sen. Lummis indicated the bill could reach a vote in the Senate by mid-June, though she cautioned that timeline may be optimistic.
The legislative push also comes as the Treasury Department ramps up pressure on illicit financing linked to cryptocurrencies.
As part of Operation Economic Fury, the United States seized nearly $500 million in Iranian cryptocurrency assets as of late April, reinforcing calls for a comprehensive government strategy to manage seized digital assets.
The White House has Noted separately A formal announcement on the operational status of the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve is imminent, with a senior administration official saying a major legal hurdle has been cleared.
