The House Financial Services Committee advanced H.R. 8957, the American Reserve Modernization Act, on a 28-21 vote on September 16. The bill would direct the U.S. Treasury to establish and maintain a strategic bitcoin reserve.
The measure proposes that the federal government acquire and hold bitcoin as part of its reserve assets, similar to gold reserves held by the Treasury. The bill's text specifies the mechanism for accumulation and custody but does not mandate a specific purchase timeline or target quantity.
Strategic bitcoin reserve proposals have moved through Congress multiple times since 2021, though none has reached the floor for a full chamber vote. The committee vote is the first passage of such a bill out of a major House committee. The 28-21 breakdown shows Republicans control 28 seats on the 53-member committee, and the bill advanced along near party-line divisions.
Proponents argue that bitcoin holdings would diversify U.S. reserve assets and hedge against inflation. The Treasury currently holds approximately 261,500 bitcoin seized or acquired through law enforcement and civil asset forfeiture, valued at roughly $10 billion at current spot prices. That holding has not been part of official reserve strategy; the bill would make such an approach formal policy.
Opponents on the committee raised concerns about volatility, the environmental impact of bitcoin mining, and the opportunity cost of capital deployment. Some questioned whether Congress should direct the Treasury toward speculative assets rather than traditional reserves.
H.R. 8957 still requires a floor vote in the House and would need Senate passage and presidential signature to become law. Companion legislation in the Senate has not yet advanced.
The committee's 28-21 margin on a reserve bill is wider than previous close votes on crypto-adjacent measures. The passage clears a procedural hurdle that has stopped similar proposals in prior Congresses, but floor dynamics and Senate appetite remain untested.
