Every American newborn now eligible for $1,000 investment in S&P 500 through Trump Accounts program
The government-funded savings initiative gives babies born since January 2025 a head start in the stock market, but crypto is nowhere on the menu
The US government is now handing newborns a thousand bucks and parking it in the stock market. Every American baby born after December 31, 2024, is eligible to receive a one-time $1,000 federal contribution invested in low-cost S&P 500 index funds through the newly launched “Trump Accounts” program.
The accounts officially went live on July 4, 2026, timed to coincide with the nation’s 250th anniversary.
How the program works
Children born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, who hold US citizenship and a Social Security number, qualify for the $1,000 government seed investment. The money gets funneled into broad US equity index funds, primarily those tracking the S&P 500, with a hard cap on fees: a maximum annual expense ratio of 0.10%.
Beyond the initial seed, families and employers can contribute up to $5,000 per year into these accounts, with that cap adjusted for inflation over time. When the child turns 18, the account can convert into an Individual Retirement Account.
The program is administered jointly by the Treasury Department and the IRS. By March 2026, before the official launch date, over 4 million accounts had already been opened. Roughly 1.5 million babies were projected to receive the seed contribution in the initial wave.
The numbers and the private sector boost
Based on historical S&P 500 returns, that initial $1,000 seed could grow to somewhere between $5,800 and $6,135 by the time the child turns 18.
In December 2025, the Dell Foundation contributed $6.25 billion to fund supplemental $250 deposits for children born in eligible ZIP codes.
What crypto investors should notice
The program is exclusively focused on traditional equity index funds. No Bitcoin allocation. No crypto ETFs. No digital asset exposure whatsoever.
The scale of the program also has implications for traditional markets. Funneling billions of dollars into S&P 500 index funds through mandatory government contributions creates a steady, predictable stream of passive buying pressure. That’s bullish for large-cap US equities and for the asset management firms offering qualifying index products.