White House pushes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve as ARMA adds 20-year lockup

The White House is renewing its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve push, backed by bipartisan legislation that would lock up government-held Bitcoin for 20 years and add the legal framework to hold it at sovereign level.

White House Digital Assets Director Patrick Witt said there has been a substantial "breakthrough" in protecting government-held crypto assets, and that work on the American Reserve Modernization Act (ARMA) can proceed once the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act is signed into law.

The U.S. government currently holds 328,372 BTC, worth an estimated $21 billion and roughly 1.5 percent of all Bitcoin in circulation. ARMA, introduced by Reps. Nick Begich (R-Alaska) and Jared Golden (D-Maine), proposes a 20-year lockup period for Bitcoin held by the reserve and a mechanism to accumulate Bitcoin in a budget-neutral way. It stops short of the Bitcoin Act proposed by Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), which called for buying 200,000 BTC per year over five years, a pace that would have put more than 5 percent of all Bitcoin in U.S. hands.

Bitcoin traded at $64,954 as of 04:58 UTC, down roughly 50 percent from its record high near $126,080, after the reserve's launch last March failed to sustain momentum. If ARMA gives the government a mandate to buy new Bitcoin rather than consolidate seized holdings, steady sovereign demand could push prices higher, while the 20-year lockup removes the risk of a near-term government selloff.

What ARMA changes

The legislation marks a shift from the executive order President Donald Trump signed last year, which created the reserve but left its legal footing and governance unclear. ARMA introduces new legal, audit, and compliance mechanisms needed to hold significant amounts of Bitcoin at the sovereign level, according to the White House. It also provides a budget-neutral path for the government to accumulate Bitcoin, though current accumulation goals appear less aggressive than those in Lummis's Bitcoin Act.

The Clarity Act, which would define market structure rules for digital assets, is the legislative prerequisite. Witt said ARMA work can proceed once that bill becomes law, giving the reserve a statutory foundation that would outlast a single presidency.

Price implications

For Bitcoin investors, the reserve's potential to buy new Bitcoin is the key variable. The government currently holds only seized assets, and consolidation alone does not add demand. A mandate to purchase would introduce a steady sovereign buyer, a dynamic that could also encourage other nations to build reserves and trigger competition for supply.

Bitcoin's 52-week range spans $57,945 to $126,080, with the current price near the lower end after a 50 percent drawdown from its peak. The market cap stands at $1.3 trillion. A reinvigorated reserve program, paired with the 20-year lockup, would remove a supply overhang and give investors a concrete event to watch as the Clarity Act moves through Congress.

If the reserve gains the authority to accumulate, the U.S. would join a small group of sovereign holders, and the statutory framework would make the program durable across administrations. For now, the near-term driver is legislative: passage of the Clarity Act, which Witt has tied to ARMA's progress, and the timeline for any new Bitcoin purchases remains undisclosed.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.