A bill is being pushed in the U.S. Congress that would require the federal government to hold bitcoin seized during law enforcement operations instead of auctioning it.

On June 17, blockchain outlet Bitcoin Magazine reported that Republican Representative Nick Begich (닉 베기치) said he would create such a holding system through the American Reserve Asset Modernization Act (ARMA).

The bill focuses on changing the existing practice of immediately selling bitcoin acquired by the government. Begich sees bitcoin as able to play the same role for the government if it can serve as a reserve asset for private companies. He cited scarcity and a dispersed ownership base as conditions for a reserve asset. He said those two factors are why gold has long been recognized as a store of value.

Begich assessed that bitcoin is approaching a similar status in the digital asset market. He said bitcoin accounts for about 60 percent of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization and is an asset where network effects have already begun to operate. He argued, "Once network effects start to work, the earlier you enter that cycle, the more advantageous it will be."

He described the bill not as a one-sided bet on bitcoin dominance but as a measure to prepare for the possibility of changes in the dollar system. Begich said reserve currencies have changed on average every 93 years, citing historical transitions from Portugal to Spain, France and Britain. He argued that just as holding gold is an act of recognizing that reality, bitcoin should be viewed the same way. He presented bitcoin as "insurance" against the possibility of a decline in the dollar's value.

Begich said his stance is also tied to personal experience. He said he moved into bitcoin in early 2013 as part of his business to prepare for a decline in the dollar's value. He later lost about 440 BTC in the collapse of Mt. Gox. He said that after going through bankruptcy proceedings he ultimately reached a positive conclusion and maintained his conviction about bitcoin.

The interview also included his views on artificial intelligence. Begich said AI could create cheaper healthcare, higher productivity and broader economic opportunities, but warned of the risk of large-scale job displacement and the loss of social roles. He described such change as a situation in which the mediation of human purpose disappears.

He drew a line at full public release of high-performance open-source AI models. Begich said of AI in general that "the champagne has already popped," but said it would be risky to fully release frontier models, especially systems beyond artificial general intelligence. He said the judgement was that, similar to why nuclear and some biotechnology research is restricted, there are asymmetric risks that cannot be controlled once released.

He also offered a cautionary remark about China's open-source model strategy. Begich said it could be seen not as a simple openness policy but as an economic tool to weaken the investment logic of U.S. AI development and shake the U.S. ecosystem from the outside.

Against this backdrop, Begich's call to hold bitcoin is being read as raising an issue that goes beyond a simple pro-cryptocurrency remark, tying together the composition of U.S. reserve assets, technological competitiveness and risks to the dollar system. The focus going forward is on how far the bill can move into congressional deliberations based on support for co-sponsorship.