Bitcoin News
US lawmakers have re-introduced legislation to formalize a federal Bitcoin reserve, with the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026 targeting acquisition of roughly 1 million BTC over five years. The bipartisan measure, sponsored by Representative Nick Begich and backed by 16 co-sponsors, would direct the Treasury Department to maintain a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve alongside a Digital Asset Stockpile for other federally held cryptocurrencies. ARMA expands on the original BITCOIN Act first introduced in July 2024 and revised in March 2025. White House adviser Patrick Witt called the framework a legally vetted “Version 2” of the earlier proposal, citing extensive work on custody safeguards.
The bill imposes a 20-year minimum holding period, with the only permitted sale tied to reducing the national debt, which surpassed $39 trillion this week. Acquisition would proceed through budget-neutral mechanisms, meaning no direct taxpayer outlays. Quarterly proof-of-reserve disclosures and independent third-party audits would govern transparency, addressing concerns over how prior federally seized coins were handled. Representative Mike Carey argued the framework strengthens America’s long-term economic posture, while Strive chairman Matt Cole described ARMA as the most consequential crypto legislation to surface in Washington. Property-rights provisions also aim to clarify how future law-enforcement seizures interact with the reserve.
Federal coffers currently hold an estimated 328,372 BTC valued above $25.5 billion, leaving the United States as the largest sovereign holder of the asset. Until now, those reserves accumulated almost entirely through court-ordered forfeitures, with periodic sales conducted through US Marshals Service auctions. Representative Jared Golden noted that Congress has never codified a federal policy governing those holdings, leaving custody and disposition decisions to executive discretion. ARMA would shift that posture by treating Bitcoin as a permanent strategic asset rather than a liquid forfeiture line. Supporters argue the move would lock in dollar value while signaling long-term commitment to the asset class.
On the market side, derivatives positioning is building a meaningful liquidity imbalance near $80,000. Aggregated exchange data points to more than $4 billion in short positions sitting above that level, leaving leveraged sellers exposed if spot reclaims the threshold. By contrast, a slide toward $75,000 would expose only about $3 billion in long liquidations, tilting the asymmetric risk in favor of upside hunts. The price held the $76,100 floor twice this week before reclaiming $78,000 on Thursday, a sequence that often precedes a directional impulse as traders chase clustered stops. The setup mirrors prior squeeze-driven rallies above resistance.
Hourly candlestick charts also flash a bullish divergence between price and the relative strength index, with momentum improving while spot prints higher lows near $76,100. An inverse head-and-shoulders structure is forming beneath a descending trendline, a pattern that frequently telegraphs trend exhaustion before reversal. A confirmed break above $78,000 would open access to a fair-value gap stretching from $79,500 to $80,300, a low-liquidity zone left behind during the prior sharp selloff that price often revisits. Filling that gap would place spot directly into the dense cluster of resting short liquidations, potentially catalyzing the cascade that bulls have been positioning for.
Liquidation activity has already accelerated, with roughly 103,963 traders flushed over a 24-hour window and total wiped notional reaching $286 million. Short positions accounted for nearly $175 million of that figure, while the single largest forced exit landed on Binance’s BTCUSDT pair at $3.04 million. Bitcoin-denominated open interest in perpetual contracts has slipped to around 116,800 BTC from roughly 120,000 earlier in the week, suggesting deleveraging is running in parallel with the spot recovery. Futures-driven flows now appear to be leading spot, a dynamic that historically amplifies both legs of any short-term move once a liquidity pocket clears.
At $77,655, BTC trades narrowly between immediate support at $77,583 and overhead resistance at $78,477, with deeper floors at $76,026 and $74,281. The RSI prints near 48.5, neutral but with capacity to expand either direction, while MACD remains bearish, leaving the broader trend sideways. A reclaim of $78,477 would expose $80,531 and align with the short-liquidation pocket discussed above, validating a bullish breakout thesis. Failure to defend $76,026 would invalidate that case and target $74,281 next. Traders should monitor volume on any move through $78,500 to confirm conviction rather than a stop-hunt fade.
Source: https://en.coinotag.com/bitcoin-tests-78k-arma-bill-1m-btc-reserve-4b-shorts-80k
