House committee advances a bill to codify the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
The House Financial Services Committee ordered H.R. 8957 reported as amended on September 16. The vote advanced a proposed statutory foundation for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve without enacting it.
On September 16, 2026, the House Financial Services Committee advanced the American Reserve Modernization Act, H.R. 8957, by ordering it reported as amended. The recorded committee vote was 28–21. Representative Nick Begich’s proposal sought to give the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve a statutory basis.
A federal Bitcoin reserve concerns government custody and management of an asset whose supply and transfer rules remain governed by the Bitcoin network. Codifying the reserve would make its institutional footing a matter of legislation, rather than relying solely on executive policy. That distinction is central to the durability and authority of a government reserve program.
The committee action was one step in the legislative process. It did not constitute House passage, Senate passage or a presidential signature. It also did not itself demonstrate that the government had purchased additional bitcoin or exercised a new acquisition power.
The September vote made the reserve proposal eligible to move beyond committee and exposed its support and opposition in a recorded legislative proceeding. Its historical significance lay in the attempt to turn Bitcoin custody policy into statute; the proposed legal change remained incomplete on the event date.