When Rep. Matt Van Epps helped lead the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026 this week, he framed the bill not as an abstract national security measure — but as a direct extension of what he sees happening in his own backyard.
“Nashville is one of the nation’s leading Bitcoin hubs,” Van Epps in a written statement said to Bitcoin MagazineNashville’s annual Bitcoin Conference, which is set to return in 2027, will be held at the Bitcoin Park.
“Nashville is quickly emerging as one of the nation’s leading Bitcoin hubs, with a growing digital asset community, institutions like Bitcoin Park, and the annual Bitcoin conference, which is scheduled to come back to Nashville in 2027,” Van Epps said. “Supporting this bill means supporting the financial innovation taking place in my district.”
First-term congressman: from Tennessee’s 7th District — a West Point graduate and combat helicopter pilot who won his seat in a December 2025 special election — this is personal. According to him, the bill represents what his district is already about.
Van Epps and Rep. Nick Begich, R-AK, co-led this legislation. introduced The American Reserve Modernization Act of 2030, or ARMA. This bill codifies President Trump’s executive order of March 2025. establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve — giving it the force of statute rather than leaving it to the discretion of future administrations.
The Reserve would be housed within the U.S. Department of Treasury, and contain BTC confiscated through civil penalties or federal law enforcement forfeitures.
Van Epps’ main argument is fiscal. “With a national debt of $39 trillion, this is an essential piece of legislation,” he added. Under ARMA future sales of Bitcoins would be limited to reducing debt. No transfers to other government programs, no discretionary spending — just debt reduction. “The reserve,” he said, “would be established without cost to American taxpayers”.
This bill is also very clear on the issue of property rights. Van Epps & Begich added language declaring that federal governments cannot intervene in an individual’s rights to possess, transfer or self-custody digital assets — a provision that reflects the libertarian undertow running through much of the pro-Bitcoin caucus in Congress.
Van Epps: Bitcoin is a solution to some U.S. issues
Van Epps believes that portfolio management is not the only way to manage a reserve. He said that the reserve was something which had the potential to become profitable. “solve major problems” For the country, the debt of the nation is one of the biggest concerns. Bitcoins’ fixed supply, and their appreciation over time in his opinion, gives the United States an instrument that gold certificates or traditional reserves can not match.
The bill requires BTC in the reserve to be held for a minimum of 20 years — a provision designed to take the asset out of short-term political calculations and treat it as a generational balance sheet decision.
Public quarterly Proof of Reserve Reports and audits by independent third parties would go along with the Reserve, bringing a level of statutory transparence that is lacking in the current executive order.
The original 18 co-sponsors, from nine different states, have signed up. The Senate remains the harder terrain — competing crypto legislation is moving through committee there, and the path to 60 votes is unclear.
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Source: bitcoinmagazine.com
