Then rep. Matt Van Epps co-sponsored the US Reserve Modernization Act of 2026 this week, framing 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 said in a statement Bitcoin Magazinepointing to Bitcoin Park, the city’s growing digital asset community, and the annual Bitcoin conference set to return to Nashville in 2027.
“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 slated to return to Nashville in 2027,” Van Epps said. “Supporting this bill means supporting the financial innovation happening in my district.”
For the newly graduated congressman from Tennessee’s 7th district — a West Point graduate and helicopter gunship pilot who won his seat in a special election in December 2025 — this is personal. In its narrative, the bill is a statement about what his district already represents.
Van Epps helped lead the legislation along with Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK), who introduced the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026, known as ARMA. The bill would codify President Trump’s March 2025 executive order establishing a strategic bitcoin reserve — giving it the force of law rather than leaving it to the discretion of future administrations.
The reserve would sit inside the US Treasury and keep BTC seized through federal law enforcement and civil penalties.
Van Epps’ central argument for the legislation is fiscal. “With a national debt of $39 trillion, this is a significant piece of legislation,” he said. Under ARMA, any future sale of Bitcoin from the reserve would only be allowed for one purpose: to reduce the national debt. No transfers to other government programs, no discretionary spending – just debt reduction. The reserve, he stressed, “would be established at no cost to American taxpayers”.
The bill also sets a fixed limit for property rights. Van Epps and Begich included language affirming that the federal government cannot interfere with an individual’s right to own, transfer or self-manage digital assets — a provision that reflects the libertarian undertow running through much of the pro-Bitcoin caucus in Congress.
Van Epps: Bitcoin can solve some problems in the US
For Van Epps, the argument goes beyond portfolio management. He described the reserve as something with the potential to “solve big problems” for the country, with the national debt chief among them. Bitcoin’s fixed supply and its appreciation over time, in his view, gives the United States a tool that gold certificates and traditional reserves cannot match.
The bill requires BTC to be held in reserve for at least 20 years — a provision designed to take the asset out of short-term political calculations and treat it as a generational balance decision.
Quarterly public Proof of Reserve reports and independent third-party audits will accompany the reserve and add a layer of statutory transparency that the existing order lacks.
Eighteen original co-sponsors signed on, spanning nine states. The Senate remains the more difficult terrain — competing crypto legislation is moving through committee there, and the path to 60 votes is unclear.