Elon Musk wants every child in America to own a piece of SpaceX. And President Trump says that is exactly what his new children’s investment accounts were built for.
“Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America. This will be the first of many,” Musk wrote on X on Monday, the Daily Caller reported.
CNBC estimated the gift could be worth about $10.5 billion if all 72 million U.S. children received a share priced around $146, according to the Daily Caller. SpaceX is valued at roughly $2 trillion.
Trump: “Exactly what was envisioned”
Trump thanked Musk on Truth Social on Monday, calling him a “legendary friend” and praising his “incredible generosity in giving SpaceX Stock to millions of American children,” the Washington Examiner reported.
Trump said the pledge was “exactly what was envisioned” when the Trump Accounts were created: the private sector coming together to invest in America’s kids.
Brad Gerstner, CEO of Altimeter Capital and founder of Invest America, went further. He called it “the largest philanthropic gift in history!” Gerstner’s group pitched the Trump Account idea to Sen. Ted Cruz in 2024, the Daily Caller reported, citing the Texas Tribune.
How Trump Accounts work
Trump Accounts are investment accounts for children under 18 with a Social Security number. Children born from 2025 through 2028 get a $1,000 federal deposit to start, according to an InvestigateTV report published by Fox19 in Cincinnati.
Parents can add up to $5,000 a year per child. Employers can chip in up to $2,500 a year, which counts toward that $5,000 limit. The $1,000 starter deposit does not.
Under temporary Treasury and IRS rules that took effect Sept. 30, the accounts can now accept donations of individual stocks, the Daily Caller reported. Donated shares generally must be held for five years. The Washington Examiner reported that the new rules are what make a stock gift like Musk’s possible.
Musk didn’t say whether he would route his shares through Trump Accounts.
He isn’t the first SpaceX leader to give. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell pledged in July to give a share to each of the 2 million Trump Accounts, CNBC reported, according to the Daily Caller.
The Treasury Department and SpaceX did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller’s requests for comment.
Not everyone is cheering. CNBC reported that donating shares directly can let wealthy shareholders avoid capital gains taxes, and regulators warned that holding a single stock adds “some additional risk in the form of increased portfolio concentration.”
The bottom line
For decades, Washington’s answer to kids born without much was another program, another check, another reason to depend on the government. Trump Accounts flip that script. They make children owners, with a stake in American companies that grows as the country grows.
Musk’s pledge shows what happens when you give private citizens a simple way to help. No new agency. No new tax. Just a man who built something great handing a piece of it to the next generation.
Critics will complain about tax angles. Let them. Millions of kids could start life holding a share of a company that launches rockets. That’s not a handout. That’s a head start.