A historic bipartisan effort is underway in Washington to cement the United States’ position in the digital economy. The American Reserve Modernization act of 2026 (ARMA), has been introduced by Representatives Jared Golden (Maine) and Nick Begich (Alaska). If passed by Congress and signed into law, ARMA will create the first-ever secure strategic military reserve of 1 million bitcoins within the U.S. Treasury, allowing for the recognition of bitcoin as a core asset class from the perspective of national security.
Moving Beyond Executive Whims
Through criminal seizures and civil forfeitures the Federal Government has built up a substantial amount of digital assets over the years. Previously, these digital assets were sold through random auctions that were dependent on the present administration. To Representative Golden, cryptocurrency has reached the point where it doesn’t belong to be treated as “off the beaten path” and thus the time has come to eliminate the use of the executive branch’s will for managing these assets. The goals of the Asset Reserve Management Act (ARMA) are to provide more stability to the digital asset expenditure and to give Congress enough time to develop a permanent federal digital asset management policy.
A Budget-Neutral Path to One Million Bitcoin
One of the most ambitious parts of the ARMA bill is its aggressive acquisition plan. The ARMA gives the Treasury Department the ability to acquire a maximum of 200,000 bitcoins per year for the next five years in order to obtain a total of one million bitcoins in federal custody. The purchases can be made entirely without any financial burden to taxpayers or by creating an increase in the national debt; instead they will be made using innovative accounting techniques through the revaluation of federal gold certificates. Thus, taxpayers will not have their money used directly to purchase the volatile digital currency.
Strict Holding Rules and Transparency Mandates
To ensure that this large stockpile of assets remains strategic, the ARMA bill requires strict holding periods. To qualify for the primary reserve, Bitcoin must be held for at least 20 years. The only legal exemption from the 20-year holding period will be when the government sells some of this Bitcoin to reduce the national debt of over $39 trillion.
The bill not only establishes a Bitcoin reserve but also establishes a Digital Stockpile of other cryptocurrencies held by the federal government. In addition to these requirements for Digital Stockpile, there are many requirements regarding the transparency of the Digital Reserve, including publicly available proof of reserve every quarter and independent third-party audits.
Safeguarding Individual Property Rights
In addition to creating government reserve inventories, ARMA has a broad philosophical base that supports individual rights in the digital arena. According to Rep. Begich, the right to private property is a core value of America and must continue to be applied to the digital world. To this effect, these bills will specifically secure the rights of U.S. citizens to own, transfer and self-custody their digital assets without any governmental-intricacies or interference. They will thereby also prevent any future federal agency from impeding on the lawful use by individuals of their personal cryptocurrency wallets.
A Global Race for Digital Dominance
The introduction of ARMA indicates that there has been a seismic shift in the way countries around the world view Bitcoin. In a recent statement, Patrick Witt (a member from the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets) confirmed that ARMA was legally sound and represents an advancement from past congressional acts. The United States is currently the largest nation-state holder of Bitcoin, and this bill ensures that lead is protected. However, America is not alone in this endeavor. Similar legislative efforts are currently being hotly debated in Brazil, which is exploring plans to allocate up to five percent of its foreign reserves to acquire one million Bitcoin.
