The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill, formally known as H.R. 8957, has been advanced by a House committee following a partisan vote split of 28-21 among members. This legislation, proposed under President Donald Trump’s initiative, is a component of the American Reserve Modernization Act and seeks to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The advancement saw all supportive votes cast by Republicans, while opposition came from Democrats. Committee chairman French Hill framed the bill as a “common-sense measure,” emphasizing the benefit of bringing digital assets held by federal agencies under consistent oversight and Treasury custody.
The bill requires the Treasury to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a separate Digital Asset Stockpile within 180 days, and it mandates that every federal agency account for its digital asset holdings within 60 days. These timing requirements appear in the committee-approved text that defines the operational deadlines for standing up the reserve and compiling agency inventories. The provisions place clear administrative milestones for Treasury and for federal agencies to report their holdings to the designated custodian.
Under the bill, once Bitcoin are deposited into the reserve or stockpile they may not be sold, swapped, auctioned, encumbered, or otherwise disposed of for any purpose for 20 years. The legislation broadens the definition of “Qualifying Bitcoin” so that it covers all Bitcoin owned by the federal government rather than limiting qualifying coins to those seized in forfeiture. The text also specifies limits on sales or other disposals consistent with the 20-year restriction. Proceeds from any sales of stockpile assets are directed first to cover management costs associated with the stockpile.
This summary presents the bill’s principal operational deadlines, holding restrictions, and the management-cost recovery framework. The earlier parts of the committee’s text address other program elements and changes to reporting and funding approaches.
The committee adopted a substitute text offered by Rep. Bryan Steil that narrowed the original bill introduced by Rep. Nick Begich. The substitute removed the original funding mechanisms that involved certain resources of the Federal Reserve System and refocused the bill on asset swaps, forfeitures and cooperative programs with states, shifting the bill’s fiscal approach away from the earlier proposals. The long title of the bill was rewritten to drop the phrase promising to offset costs utilizing certain Federal Reserve resources, reflecting the change in funding emphasis. The substitute was adopted before the committee vote and that change left the text narrower than the May introduction.
An amendment offered by Rep. Maxine Waters failed during committee consideration. The committee-approved text reduced transparency requirements by shortening proof-of-reserve reporting from quarterly to annual and by removing the requirement to post those reports on the Treasury’s website. The substitute also altered other reporting and title language, described in the committee’s summary as stripping out more ambitious funding ideas and thinning transparency rules. Those changes adjusted the bill’s public reporting and oversight provisions compared with the original text.
The committee text shortened retention periods for forked and airdropped assets, requiring they be held for one year rather than five. The revised text preserves a prohibition on purchases within its operative section while directing Treasury and Commerce to study within 180 days whether purchases could be made without cost to taxpayers; it also specifies that nothing in that study authorization permits borrowing, pledging, encumbering, or using federal digital assets as collateral. The bill directs that proceeds from any sales of stockpile assets be used first to cover management costs. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent separately ruled out agency purchases outside the committee text.
Congressional committee advanced a narrower, more focused version of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill on a party-line vote, moving the measure forward while trimming earlier funding and transparency proposals. The measure formalizes Treasury custody and oversight of federal digital assets and imposes long-term restrictions on disposal of government-held Bitcoin, while establishing a framework for managing and recovering costs from any permitted sales.
