The U.S. House Financial Services Committee is set to mark up the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill on September 16. The committee’s latest memorandum includes H.R. 8957, the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026, in a list of nine bills it will consider.
Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Bill Moves To US House Markup
Several legislation markups will start at 10:00 a.m. ET in Room 2128 of the Ray burn House Office Building on Wednesday, September 16. The schedule includes the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Bill as well.
On May 21, Reps. introduced H.R. 8957. Nicholas Begich and Jared Golden, both from Alaska. It has 23 cosponsors. The bill also was heard by the Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence Subcommittee in a July 17 hearing on how the CLARITY Act can foster innovation.
The bill calls for the Secretary of the Treasury to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve within 180 days of its enactment. The facility would be for federal-approved Bitcoin. Non-Bitcoin digital assets would be regulated by a separate Digital Asset Stockpile.
The bill would also transfer digital assets under the control and management of various federal agencies to Treasury. Agencies would have to provide a complete accounting of their Bitcoin and other digital assets within 60 days of enactment. Once the reserve is operational those holdings would be transferred within 30 days.
The 20-year minimum holding period on Bitcoin deposited into the reserve would be instituted under H.R. 8957. It was during this time that the assets were not to be sold, swapped, auctioned or otherwise disposed of.
Bessent Says Trump Administration Still Pursuing BTC Reserve
The House markup follows Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s June statement that the Trump administration is still working on its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
Bessent introduced the proposal in June before the Senate Finance Committee under the auspices of national economic security. “And I couldn’t agree more with you that economic security is national security,” he told lawmakers.
Bessent also said, “for 25 years the U.S. has been asleep and under President Trump’s leadership, we are moving forward very quickly on that.”
The Bitcoin strategic reserve is kind of an unfamiliar territory for the government, he added. “The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is something. This is new technology. This is new ground,” Bessent said.
He said they were taking a measured approach in developing the framework. “We are proceeding with all deliberate speed,” he said.
The bill would also mandate that Treasury make public quarterly Proof of Reserve reports that include holdings, transactions, and control of private keys. Reports would be verified by an independent auditor, and monitored by the Comptroller General.
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