When tech giants donate stocks to the "Trump account", which targets will benefit?

On July 4, the U.S. Department of the Treasury officially announced that the long-awaited "Trump Accounts" have been formally launched. American parents and children can now download the application and access their accounts to check fund status in real time or make contributions.

Odaily Note: The so-called "Trump Accounts", also known as 530A Accounts, are a tax-advantaged investment account program authorized by the incumbent U.S. President Donald Trump on June 9, 2025 under the "Big and Beautiful Act". The accounts are open to minors under the age of 18 across the United States, aiming to establish government-funded savings accounts for the children of American citizens.

The initial funding for "Trump Accounts" mainly comes from government appropriations, private donations, and family deposits. The federal government will provide $1,000 in initial funding for each child of a U.S. citizen born between January 1, 2025 and January 1, 2029; in addition, the largest donor, Michael Dell, founder of Dell, and his wife announced last December that they would donate $6.25 billion to open accounts for 25 million children in households with a median regional income below $150,000, injecting $250 into each account. Parents, friends, and other specified individuals can also deposit funds into designated accounts, such as through the "employer contribution" channel, where more than 50 companies have already pledged to make donations for their employees' children.

According to current regulations, the funds in "Trump Accounts" will be invested in index funds tracking the U.S. stock market. Children can withdraw 50% of their account balance when they turn 18, and the full balance starting at age 25. Account earnings are taxed at the long-term capital gains tax rate or income tax rate.

Trump's On-Site Promotion Drives Dell Stock Surge

On local time July 6th, Trump hosted a launch celebration for the "Trump Accounts" in the White House Oval Office, and personally rang the opening bells of the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ from the previous evening on-site to commemorate the first trading day after the full rollout of the Trump Accounts.

Trump made a high-profile announcement on the scene: "Today is a historic day. On the 250th anniversary of the founding of America, we are launching the Trump Accounts... to ensure that every American child can have the advantage of starting ahead, and a fair chance to achieve the American Dream."

Trump also praised the largest donors of the "Trump Accounts", Michael Dell and his wife, on-site, not only calling on the public to "go buy a Dell computer", but also joking: "We will always find a way to help him earn that money back."

Driven by the president's public endorsement, Dell's stock price surged more than 3% in intraday trading yesterday, closing at $411.8 with a 4.43% increase.

Treasury Allows Stock Donations, SpaceX Has Followed Suit

While the "Trump Accounts" went online, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has opened new funding channels for the program.

On July 2, the Treasury officially announced that the "Trump Accounts" will begin accepting stock donations, where eligible charitable donors can donate approved publicly traded stocks to the accounts.

After the Treasury gave the green light, Trump also publicly called out Musk, urging him to donate SpaceX stocks to the "Trump Accounts". As of press time, although Musk himself has not publicly responded, SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell and her husband have announced that they will donate part of their held SpaceX stocks to the Trump Accounts of more than 2 million American children, with an estimated donation of about 2 million SpaceX shares, valued at approximately $325 million in total.

Gwynne Shotwell stated that the donated funds will be specifically used for the accounts of children aged 11 to 17 living in areas with low average household income, with a particular focus on children residing near her home in central Texas.

From a corporate perspective, participating in the "Trump Accounts" today is not just a public welfare act, but may also become a new brand exposure channel. Especially after Trump's public endorsement of Dell last night, the market has begun to focus on a new logic — in projects that Trump pays close attention to and promotes personally, companies that participate earlier are more likely to receive the president's public endorsement.

With SpaceX's follow-up, it is expected that more tech companies, large corporations, and wealthy individuals will join the program in the future. For enterprises, donating part of their stocks will not directly weaken their operational capacity, but may in return bring long-term political exposure, brand value, and potential user reach — which is by no means a losing deal.

Which Assets May Benefit?

From an investment perspective, the greatest significance of the "Trump Accounts" lies in creating a new capital pool that may last for decades. Combined with the operation mechanism and access path of this capital pool, plus Trump's current active actions, the potential beneficiary assets of the accounts mainly cover three levels.

First, the direct capital flow of the "Trump Accounts" — the S&P 500 Index. According to the rules announced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, when the "Trump Accounts" are launched, all funds will be invested in the "State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF" (SPYM), a low-cost exchange-traded fund (ETF) designed to track the performance of the S&P 500 Index. In addition, the Treasury has also selected other ETF index funds such as IVV, VTI, SRTM, and ITOT for the "Trump Accounts" investment portfolio.

According to statistics from Statista, the average annual number of births in the United States since 2020 is about 3.6 million. Estimating based on this, the number of eligible newborns between January 1, 2025 and January 1, 2029 will be approximately 14.4 million. If each child receives $1,000 in initial funding from the federal government, the government's total investment alone will reach about $14.4 billion. Combined with the Dells' donation, corporate employer contributions, and subsequent family deposits, the total account asset size may further expand to tens of billions of dollars in the future. If the program continues in the long term, it is expected to become a new long-term incremental capital source for the U.S. capital market.

Second, the access path of the "Trump Accounts" — BNY Mellon and Robinhood. As of now, there are only two disclosed partners for the "Trump Accounts": BNY Mellon, the designated financial agent, and Robinhood, the designated broker and initial trustee, which is also responsible for developing the "Trump Accounts" application.

For these two companies, the core significance of the "Trump Accounts" lies in their long-term value — the United States will have a group of newborns numbering in the tens of millions, and these accounts represent tens of millions of potential long-term customers, a decades-long account lifecycle, and opportunities for investment, trading, and wealth management migration when they reach adulthood. This is similar to the logic behind financial institutions competing for IRA and 401(k) users in the past. If the "Trump Accounts" eventually become the default gateway for American children to enter the capital market, the platforms that control the entry point may obtain a user asset pool that lasts for decades.

Among them, Robinhood, which directly faces users, is particularly worth noting, as this may be an important opportunity for its transformation from a "trading app for young people" to a "mass wealth management platform".

Odaily Note: See also "Robinhood Has a New Batch of New Stock Traders, the Oldest 1 Year Old, the Youngest -3 Years Old" (https://www.odaily.news/zh-CN/post/5210134).

Third, the early donation entities — whoever gives the president face first will be more favored by him. Referring to Dell's case, such donations can no longer be simply understood as a pure public welfare act. Trump has publicly praised Dell through White House events and actively created exposure for its brand.

As Trump's most valued "political bargaining chip" at present, as more companies join in the future, early participants may receive presidential-level public publicity to enhance brand influence, and have the opportunity to establish closer ties with government resources.

Oh right, there's one more thing... At yesterday's event, Trump was asked whether the accounts could potentially include Bitcoin, and his answer was: "Maybe."

From Policy Dividends to Long-Term Capital Entry Points

It should be noted that the "Trump Accounts" are still in the early launch stage, and their true impact scale will depend on the subsequent capital size, corporate participation, and policy continuity.

In the short term, the market is more likely to trade on the sentiment value brought by Trump's public endorsement, as well as the exposure effect obtained by early participating enterprises. But from a longer-term perspective, if this program can continue to advance, it may become a new type of wealth entry point connecting the next generation of American consumers, the capital market, and financial institutions.

In a sense, the "Trump Accounts" are trying to replicate the path of the U.S. retirement account system — creating an entry point through government policies, and then allowing financial institutions and the capital market to absorb long-term funds. For investors, what is really worth paying attention to may not be the next company that Trump names, but who can occupy the most core position in this decades-long capital pool.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Odaily" (ID: o-daily), author: Azuma, published with authorization from 36Kr.