When Rep. Matt Van Epps helped spearhead the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026 this week, framing the law not as a national security measure — but as a direct extension of what he sees happening in his own backyard.
“Nashville is one of the leading Bitcoin hubs,” Van Epps said in a statement Bitcoin Magazinehe points to Bitcoin Park, the city’s growing financial community, and the annual Bitcoin conference, which is expected to return to Nashville in 2027.
“Nashville is quickly emerging as one of the world’s leading Bitcoin hubs, with a growing financial community, institutions like Bitcoin Park, and the annual Bitcoin conference, which is expected to return to Nashville in 2027,” Van Epps said. “Supporting this bill means supporting the economic innovation that is happening in my state.”
For the new congressman from Tennessee’s 7th District — the West Point graduate and helicopter pilot won his seat in the December 2025 special election — this is personal. The bill, in his words, is what his constituency already stands for.
Van Epps led the legislation along with Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK), who to inform American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026, known as ARMA. The bill would include President Trump’s March 2025 plan implementation a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve – giving them legal power rather than leaving it up to future management.
This repository resides within the US Department of the Treasury and holds BTC confiscated through legal seizures and government sanctions.
Van Epps’ main argument in law and economics. “With a national debt of $39 trillion, this is an important law,” he said. Under the ARMA, the future sale of Bitcoin from the reserve will be allowed for one purpose only: to reduce the national debt. No transfer to other government programs, no discretionary spending – just credit reduction. The reserve, he stressed, “will be established at no cost to American taxpayers”.
The bill also puts a hard line on property rights. Van Epps and Begich included language guaranteeing that the government cannot interfere with a person’s right to reside, move, or digital asset storage – a piece that highlights the activist work that is going through a major pro-Bitcoin segment in Congress.
Van Epps: Bitcoin can solve problems in the US
For Van Epps, the debate goes beyond managing history. He said that the warehouse is something that can “solve the major problems” of the country, with the head of the national debt among them. The fixed supply of Bitcoin and its appreciation over time, in his opinion, gives the United States an instrument that gold certificates and traditional reserves cannot match.
The bill requires that BTC in the reserve be held for at least 20 years – a measure designed to remove the asset from long-term political calculations and treat it as a generational decision.
Quarterly public reports and independent third-party audits will accompany the database, adding legal transparency where there is no formal regulatory framework.
Eighteen initial sponsors have signed on, spread across nine states. The Senate remains a difficult place – competing crypto bills are moving through committee there, and the path to 60 votes is unclear.
