A proposed bill in the US Congress, the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026 (ARMA), would mandate that any Bitcoin held as a strategic reserve must be kept for at least 20 years. The only exception: using the Bitcoin to reduce the national debt. The legislation, if passed, would impose the longest mandatory holding period ever considered for a sovereign crypto stash.
The 20-year lockup
The bill's central provision is a two-decade minimum hold on any Bitcoin the US government acquires as a strategic reserve. That means no selling for 20 years — no matter the price, no matter the market cycle. The idea appears to be long-term stability over short-term gain. It's a bet that Bitcoin's value will grow over time, and that locking it away prevents political whims from triggering a sale.
The 20-year window is unusual even by traditional reserve asset standards. Gold reserves, for example, have no such legal holding requirement. The US sells gold occasionally, though rarely. Bitcoin, being more volatile, would be held through booms and busts.
The debt-reduction escape clause
There's one door out: using the Bitcoin to reduce the national debt. The bill specifically allows the reserve to be liquidated if the proceeds go directly to paying down the federal debt. That creates a narrow but significant exception. It also ties the fate of the reserve directly to fiscal policy — a move that could be politically popular if debt levels climb.
The exception doesn't define how much debt would need to be retired, or whether partial sales would be allowed. Those details would likely be hammered out in committee if the bill advances.
What happens next
The ARMA has been introduced but hasn't yet seen a committee hearing. Its path forward is uncertain. The 20-year lockup is a hard sell in a Congress that rarely agrees on long-term commitments. Still, the proposal signals that lawmakers are thinking about how to manage a potential US Bitcoin reserve — and that they're not comfortable with easy access to the stash.
The next concrete step is a markup in the relevant committee. No date has been set. For now, the bill sits as a marker: a vision for a very long-term Bitcoin strategy, with a single escape hatch for the national debt.
