#美国众院推动比特币储备立法 The Clarity Act Stalls, While the Bitcoin Reserve Act Takes Over: A Medium- to Long-Term Tailwind the Market Has Overlooked Is Underway
On September 16, the House Financial Services Committee passed the “American Reserve Modernization Act” by 28 to 21, moving the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve from a presidential executive order to statutory law for the first time. On the same day, the House Ways and Means Committee passed the “Digital Asset Tax Clarity Act” by 38 to 5. On-chain transactions under $10 would be exempt from reporting, while miners and stakers would be taxed only when they sell.
The failure of the Clarity Act determines the regulatory vacuum over the next few months. The Reserve Act changes how the 328k bitcoins held by the U.S. government are handled. Once the reserve moves from an executive order into law, these holdings—about 1.5% of the circulating supply—will be locked up for 20 years and cannot be withdrawn even if the president changes. The former affects prices this quarter; the latter could affect the coin distribution structure for the next 20 years.
What exactly does the Bitcoin Reserve Act change?
First, let’s look at what the U.S. government holds.
According to on-chain data, the federal government currently holds approximately 328k bitcoins, worth about $25 billion at current prices, making it the largest single government holder on Earth. Nearly all of these coins came from law-enforcement seizures: approximately 127k from the Prince Group case, about 94.6k recovered in the Bitf hack case, approximately 94k from the Silk Road cases, and the remainder from scattered enforcement actions by the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service.
In the past, the fate of these coins depended on who occupied the White House. Some administrations auctioned them off, while others held onto them.
In March 2025, Trump signed an executive order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Seized bitcoins would no longer be auctioned off but transferred into the reserve for long-term holding. But executive orders have an inherent weakness: the next president can revoke them with the stroke of a pen.
The “American Reserve Modernization Act” aims to fix that. The bill was jointly introduced by Alaska Republican Representative Begich and Maine Democratic Representative Golden. Its core provisions include several requirements: The Treasury Department must establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve within 180 days after the bill takes effect, and all federal agencies must report their digital-asset holdings within 60 days. Bitcoins transferred into the reserve must be locked up for at least 20 years and may not be sold, exchanged, auctioned, or pledged as collateral during that period. The sole exception is using sale proceeds to repay federal debt.
The Treasury Department must publish quarterly proof-of-reserves reports, use cryptography to verify control of the private keys, and undergo independent third-party audits. Seized tokens other than Bitcoin would enter a separate digital-asset reserve, which would be subject to looser rules and could be converted into Bitcoin or liquidated to repay debt. The bill also makes clear that the government may not seize privately held bitcoins to fill the reserve. In addition, it requires the Treasury and Commerce Departments to study budget-neutral ways to increase holdings without imposing new taxes, issuing debt, or adding to the deficit. Potential avenues include disposing of other government-held digital assets, continuing law-enforcement seizures, and cooperating with private companies and state governments. The “one million bitcoins in five years” acquisition target discussed in the early stages was not included in the final text, leaving only a research mandate.
Another Tailwind
The Clarity Act was discussed for nearly a year and a half from introduction to its failed vote, incorporating more than 100 amendments, but ultimately died over partisan divisions.
Whether it can be revived after the midterm elections, and in what form, is unknown. Legislation of this kind involving market structure is inherently difficult, requiring simultaneous reassurance for the banking industry, regulators, state governments, and lawmakers from both parties.
The Reserve Act is taking a different path.
It does not redistribute regulatory authority or antagonize the banking industry. Its core purpose is simply to put into law something the government is already doing. The executive order has been in effect for a year and a half, and the reserve already exists in practice. The bill only needs to address its durability. That is why it has secured more than 20 bipartisan co-sponsors.
The implications for the market are also completely different. Whether the Clarity Act passes determines how exchanges register and which regulator oversees a given token. It would take years for these rule changes to feed through to prices.
If the Reserve Act ultimately becomes law, 328k bitcoins would be removed from potential sell-side supply for 20 years. This change would not depend on any agency’s willingness to implement it; it would take effect simply by being written into law. Relative to the circulating supply, this amounts to removing approximately 1.5% of the coins from the market for a generation.
There is another easily overlooked signal.
The quarterly proof-of-reserves reports and private-key verification required by the bill would mean that the U.S. government publicly discloses its Bitcoin holdings in an auditable manner for the first time.
By comparison, the last comprehensive physical audit of U.S. gold reserves was conducted in 1953. The fact that a country’s Bitcoin reserves would be more transparent than its gold reserves is itself worth recording in history.
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