{"id":7408,"date":"2026-05-22T19:16:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T19:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/22\/a-freshman-congressman-from-nashville-wants-to-make-the-national-bitcoin-reserve-permanent\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T19:16:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T19:16:34","slug":"a-freshman-congressman-from-nashville-wants-to-make-the-national-bitcoin-reserve-permanent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/22\/a-freshman-congressman-from-nashville-wants-to-make-the-national-bitcoin-reserve-permanent\/","title":{"rendered":"A Freshman Congressman from Nashville Wants to Make the National Bitcoin Reserve Permanent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

A Freshman Congressman from Nashville Wants to Make the National Bitcoin Reserve Permanent<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

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 \u2014 but as a direct extension of what he sees happening in his own backyard.<\/p>\n

\u201cNashville is one of the nation\u2019s leading Bitcoin hubs,\u201d Van Epps said in a statement to Bitcoin Magazine<\/em>, pointing to Bitcoin Park, the city\u2019s growing digital asset community, and the annual Bitcoin conference, set to return to Nashville in 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNashville is quickly emerging as one of the nation\u2019s 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,\u201d Van Epps said. \u201cSupporting this bill means supporting the financial innovation taking place in my district.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the freshman congressman from<\/a> Tennessee\u2019s 7th District \u2014 a West Point graduate and combat helicopter pilot who won his seat in a December 2025 special election \u2014 this is personal. The bill is, in his telling, a statement about what his district already represents.<\/p>\n

Van Epps co-led the legislation alongside Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK), who introduced<\/a> the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026, known as ARMA. The bill would codify President Trump\u2019s March 2025 executive order establishing<\/a> a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve \u2014 giving it the force of statute rather than leaving it to the discretion of future administrations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The reserve would sit inside the U.S. Department of the Treasury and hold BTC seized through federal law enforcement forfeitures and civil penalties.<\/p>\n

Van Epps\u2019 central argument for the legislation is fiscal. \u201cWith a national debt of $39 trillion, this is an essential piece of legislation,\u201d he said. Under ARMA, any future sale of Bitcoin from the reserve would be permitted for only one purpose: reducing the national debt. No transfers to other government programs, no discretionary spending \u2014 just debt reduction. The reserve, he stressed, \u201cwould be established without cost to American taxpayers\u201d.<\/p>\n

The bill also draws a firm line on property rights. Van Epps and Begich included language affirming that the federal government cannot interfere with an individual\u2019s right to own, transfer, or self-custody digital assets<\/a> \u2014 a provision that reflects the libertarian undertow running through much of the pro-Bitcoin caucus in Congress.<\/p>\n

Van Epps: Bitcoin can fix some problems in the U.S.\u00a0<\/h2>\n

For Van Epps, the argument goes beyond portfolio management. He described the reserve as something with the potential to \u201csolve major problems\u201d for the country, with the national debt chief among them. Bitcoin\u2019s fixed supply and its appreciation over time, in his view, give the United States a tool that gold certificates and traditional reserves cannot match.<\/p>\n

The bill requires BTC in the reserve to be held for a minimum of 20 years \u2014 a provision designed to take the asset out of short-term political calculations and treat it as a generational balance sheet decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Quarterly public Proof of Reserve reports and independent third-party audits would accompany the reserve, adding a layer of statutory transparency that the existing executive order lacks.<\/p>\n

Eighteen original co-sponsors signed on, stretching across nine states. The Senate remains the harder terrain \u2014 competing crypto legislation is moving through committee there, and the path to 60 votes is unclear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This post A Freshman Congressman from Nashville Wants to Make the National Bitcoin Reserve Permanent<\/a> first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine<\/a> and is written by Micah Zimmerman<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine A Freshman Congressman from Nashville Wants to Make the National Bitcoin Reserve Permanent 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 \u2014 but as a direct extension of what he sees happening in his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bitcoin"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}