Congress Wants to Lock a 1-Million-Bitcoin Reserve Into Law — Bypassing the President's Executive Order

On May 21, 2026, Congressmen Nick Begich (AK-AL) and Jared Golden (ME-02) introduced a bipartisan bill called the American Reserve Modernization Act (ARMA), immediately backed by more than a dozen co-sponsors from both parties, the congressional press office reports.

What the bill proposes: it would authorize the Treasury to purchase up to 200,000 BTC a year for five years, aiming to grow the federal reserve to 1 million bitcoin under government custody, The Block notes.

The headline condition is a 20-year lockup. Under the bill's text, any bitcoin acquired through the program "may not be sold, swapped, auctioned, encumbered, or otherwise disposed of for any purpose" for two decades, The Defiant explains. What this means in practice: the reserve is designed to function like a gold reserve — untouchable regardless of who becomes the next president, rather than a position a new administration could simply sell off.

Why this is fundamentally different from Trump's 2025 executive order: a president can undo an executive order with a single signature, while a law passed by Congress is far harder to reverse. The funding is designed to be budget-neutral: the bill proposes revaluing the Federal Reserve's long-stagnant official gold certificate price to current market value, then using the resulting paper gains to fund bitcoin purchases without adding to the national debt, Benzinga notes. The bill also requires quarterly proof-of-reserve reports and independent third-party audits.

ARMA arrives against the backdrop of the existing executive-order reserve already stalling for more than a year over a Treasury-Commerce turf war — and it remains unclear whether the bill will clear both chambers of Congress.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.