The most consequential Bitcoin reserve bill in Congress carries an Alaska address. On May 21, 2026, Rep. Nick Begich, the state’s lone House member, introduced the American Reserve Modernization Act (ARMA), legislation to establish a U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and direct the Treasury to acquire up to 1 million BTC, roughly 5% of the total supply.
ARMA is the renamed successor to the BITCOIN Act that Begich and Sen. Cynthia Lummis floated in March 2025, rebuilt for support after the first version stalled. It would impose a minimum 20-year holding period, keep the coins in cold storage, and fund purchases through what proponents call budget-neutral measures, including the Federal Reserve’s surplus and a revaluation of gold certificates. The pitch, in Begich’s framing, is that what a president can do by executive order in four years, Congress can lock in permanently.
Here is what makes the bill land differently from Alaska: the state already runs the closest thing the country has to a sovereign Bitcoin reserve, minus the Bitcoin. The Alaska Permanent Fund held $80.5 billion at the close of fiscal 2024, the largest U.S. sovereign wealth fund, built since 1976 from at least a quarter of the state’s mineral royalties. Every year it pays a dividend to residents. The 2025 payment was $1,000 per eligible Alaskan.
That model is exactly why a sober Alaskan might hesitate at the idea. A fund that cuts a check to every resident cannot easily ride out the 60% to 70% drawdowns Bitcoin has delivered more than once. The Permanent Fund answers to stability and a predictable dividend, not asymmetric upside. A national reserve with a two-decade lockup can stomach volatility a dividend fund cannot. The two ideas borrow the same vocabulary and serve opposite masters.
