The US government now has a law on the table that would do something remarkably simple yet unprecedented: force the Treasury to show its Bitcoin receipts. The American Reserve Modernization Act, or ARMA, was introduced on May 21, 2026, by Rep. Nick Begich of Alaska with 16 bipartisan co-sponsors backing the effort.
Ken Egan of the Bitcoin Policy Institute has endorsed the legislation as a strong governance measure, pointing to its clear custody standards and accountability mechanisms for taxpayer-owned digital assets.
What ARMA actually does
The federal government already holds Bitcoin. An executive order from March 2025 established a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and designated the Treasury as the primary custodian of Bitcoin gained through forfeitures and penalties. ARMA codifies what’s already happening and wraps it in a layer of structured oversight.
The bill mandates quarterly public “Proof of Reserve” reports for all federally held Bitcoin. Every three months, the Treasury has to publish verifiable evidence that the coins it claims to hold actually exist in wallets it controls.
On top of those quarterly disclosures, ARMA requires independent audits of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
ARMA locks up federally managed Bitcoin for at least 20 years. The only exception for selling before that window closes is national debt reduction, which currently exceeds $39 trillion.
The legislation also consolidates federal digital asset management under the Treasury, eliminating the fragmentation that has characterized government crypto holdings across multiple agencies. No additional taxpayer funding is required to implement the framework, according to the bill’s structure.
Why this matters beyond the Beltway
The March 2025 executive order shifted the paradigm by treating Bitcoin as something worth keeping rather than something to dump at auction. ARMA takes that shift and gives it legislative teeth. An executive order can be reversed by the next president with a stroke of a pen. A law requires Congress to undo it.
With 16 co-sponsors from both major parties, ARMA isn’t being positioned as a partisan pet project. Egan’s endorsement through the Bitcoin Policy Institute signals that the bill aligns with what the Bitcoin advocacy community has been pushing for: clear rules, transparent custody, and a long-term holding strategy.
What investors should watch
The 20-year holding period effectively removes a significant potential source of sell pressure from the market. Those coins aren’t hitting exchanges anytime soon, barring a deliberate Congressional decision to pay down the national debt with crypto proceeds.
Consolidating custody under the Treasury reduces the operational risk that comes with multiple agencies independently managing digital assets with varying levels of technical competence. A single custodial authority means standardized security practices, unified key management, and one point of accountability rather than a dozen.
A 20-year mandatory hold is a bet that Bitcoin will retain or increase its value over that period. If Bitcoin’s relevance fades, the government would be sitting on a depreciating asset it legally cannot sell.