Seventeen Republican and Democratic U.S. lawmakers have introduced a bill dubbed ARMA to make government-held bitcoin a strategic reserve asset under law.

CoinPost, a blockchain outlet, reported on Thursday that the bill would require the Treasury to hold digital assets as reserve assets for at least 20 years.

The bill was introduced by Republican Representative Nick Begich. ARMA, short for the American Reserve Modernization Act, focuses on consolidating seized or forfeited digital assets scattered across federal agencies under Treasury management. It also mandates submission of proof-of-reserves reports to increase transparency of held assets.

The move toward legislation reflects limits of existing measures. U.S. President Donald Trump created a bitcoin strategic reserve by executive order in March 2025, but an executive order alone could be reversed with a change of administration or shifts in Congress. Representative Jared Golden said in a statement, "Putting it into law can prevent a sale at the discretion of the administration." Golden participated as a main Democratic co-sponsor.

The bill does not mandate additional bitcoin purchases. The U.S. government currently holds about 328,000 BTC, about 1.6 percent of global supply, mainly from seized or forfeited assets. Patrick Witt, executive director at the White House Digital Asset Advisory Council, said at a bitcoin conference in April that the build-out of asset custody infrastructure had been completed and an official announcement was near, but new purchases are reportedly not included in the policy at this stage.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has also previously denied the possibility of additional purchases by government agencies. ARMA likewise focuses on maintaining and managing existing holdings. It is therefore far from the large-scale sovereign buying scenario the market had expected.

This is not the first similar attempt in the U.S. Congress. Representative Byron Donalds introduced a similar bill in March 2025, and Representative Tim Burchett did so in June that year, but neither made progress. A separate bill that would allow the government to buy 200,000 BTC annually has also been submitted, but prospects for passage are unclear due to political friction.

The latest ARMA has a strong character of locking in an existing executive order into law. With its emphasis on long-term preservation, consolidated management and operational transparency rather than new purchases, the focus will be whether bipartisan support in Congress leads to legislative progress. Attention is also on whether the Treasury's 20-year holding requirement and the proof-of-reserves system remain intact during the bill review process.