Congress Bitcoin reserve 1,000,000 BTC

Senator Cynthia Lummis and Representative Nick Begich have backed multiple efforts in Congress to put a U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve into law, but the core 1,000,000-bitcoin target did not first appear this week. Congress.gov shows Lummis introduced S.954, the BITCOIN Act of 2025, on March 11, 2025, and the bill was referred to the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. The White House had already moved on the issue before this week’s podcast discussion. President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14233 on March 6, 2025, establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a United States Digital Asset Stockpile, with the reserve initially capitalized by bitcoin already held by the government through forfeiture rather than new market purchases. (congress.gov) ### Where does the 1,000,000 BTC figure come from? S.954 provides the clearest source for the headline number. The bill text says the Treasury secretary would establish a Bitcoin Purchase Program to buy 200,000 bitcoins a year over five years, for total acquisition of 1,000,000 bitcoins. Senator Lummis’s office described the same plan when she first promoted the legislation, saying it would implement a “1-million-unit Bitcoin purchase program” designed to acquire about 5% of total bitcoin supply. (whitehouse.gov) That means the podcast’s central figure matches language already used in the legislation and in Lummis’s own materials. ### Did Congress introduce something new this week? (lummis.senate.gov) Representative Nick Begich said on May 21, 2026 that he and Representative Jared Golden introduced the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026, or ARMA, to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and set federal policy for digital reserve assets. Begich’s office described the bill as bipartisan and listed more than a dozen original co-sponsors. (lummis.senate.gov) Begich’s announcement did not, in the excerpt available, restate the 1,000,000-BTC purchase schedule. That matters because this week’s “arms race” framing appears to blend a fresh House push for reserve legislation with the older Lummis bill that explicitly spells out the million-bitcoin acquisition program. ### How is the executive order different from the BITCOIN Act? (begich.house.gov) The March 6, 2025 executive order created a reserve structure using bitcoin already in federal custody and required agencies to review transfers of government-held BTC into that reserve. It also directed the Treasury secretary to evaluate legal and investment considerations for managing the reserve and the wider digital-asset stockpile. (begich.house.gov) S.954 goes further than the executive order by authorizing purchases in the open market and setting a defined acquisition pace. Congress.gov lists the measure as introduced only, with no Senate floor action recorded beyond referral to committee. ### Is there a House version of the million-bitcoin bill? Congress.gov also shows H.R.2032, introduced in the House on March 11, 2025 by Begich and referred to the House Financial Services Committee. (whitehouse.gov) The bill text mirrors the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve framework in the Senate version. Third-party legislative trackers summarizing H.R.2032 say it would require Treasury to purchase 1 million bitcoins over five years and hold them in trust for the United States, but the most direct primary-source language surfaced more clearly in the Senate text available through Congress.gov and GovInfo. (congress.gov) ### What can be verified, and what remains rhetoric? The podcast claim that Congress has introduced legislation tied to a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is accurate. (congress.gov) The claim that legislation targets up to 1,000,000 BTC is also supported by the text of S.954 and by Lummis’s public description of the bill. What cannot be verified from official sources is the podcast’s “supply war” language as an enacted U.S. policy position. (legilist.com) As of May 23, 2026, the official record shows an executive order built around existing seized holdings, a Senate bill introduced in March 2025, a House companion introduced the same day, and a new Begich-led House proposal announced on May 21, 2026. Congress.gov still lists S.954 as referred to Senate Banking, and Begich’s May 21 release is the latest named step in the House-side push. (congress.gov) (govinfo.gov)