Trump Accounts: Treasury auto-enrolls 60M+ children; BNY and Robinhood picked after Trump stock purchases (2025-2026)

Case

The 2025 tax law created "Trump Accounts," tax-deferred investment accounts for children, run through Treasury. On Oct. 1, 2026 Treasury auto-opened accounts for more than 60 million children, pooled in a master trust whose trustee Treasury picked. Treasury designated BNY as financial agent and Robinhood as sole initial trustee on April 6, 2026, weeks after Trump's disclosure forms show purchases of both companies' stock; the contract terms are not public. Treasury also now accepts donations of appreciated stock, which carry tax benefits for donors. Bessent and Cruz have both described the accounts as a path toward Social Security personal accounts; the administration says they supplement Social Security.

How Trump Accounts and auto-enrollment work
Trump Accounts were created under the 2025 tax law (Internal Revenue Code section 530A) as a type of traditional IRA for children. The Treasury Secretary creates each child's initial account, and children born from 2025 through 2028 can receive a one-time $1,000 federal deposit if a parent or guardian makes a separate election.
Treasury began automatically opening accounts on or about Oct. 1, 2026 for every eligible child under 18 with a Social Security number who did not already have one. Treasury estimated the rule would add more than 60 million accounts in 2026, affecting 73 million children in 44 million families.
Auto-created accounts are invested collectively in a master group trust set up by Treasury and can receive only government or charity contributions and the $1,000 federal deposit until a parent or guardian claims the account by verifying identity and authority. Unclaimed accounts stay open and convert to a traditional IRA in the child's name at age 18.

BNY, Robinhood and the undisclosed contract terms
On April 6, 2026, Treasury designated The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BNY) as its financial agent to manage the initial Trump Accounts. BNY partnered with Robinhood, which serves as the brokerage and initial trustee, and Treasury says it retains control of the app and operations.
Quartz reported that the financial details of the arrangement were not disclosed.
In a filing to SEC staff, Robinhood's counsel said Robinhood will not be permitted to collect fees directly or indirectly from the Trump Accounts and will instead be paid under agreements between Treasury and BNY and between BNY and Robinhood. The sources reviewed do not publish those agreements or the amounts.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said the role puts Robinhood in front of the next generation of investors and described Robinhood as a subcontractor to BNY. He also said there may in future be small management fees through the ETFs used in the accounts, which sits uneasily with counsel's statement that Robinhood collects no fees directly or indirectly.

Trump's stock purchases before the April 6 designation
A letter from Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Democratic senators, citing Trump's OGE Form 278-T filing, says Trump's accounts bought up to $50,000 of Robinhood stock on March 11, 2026, up to $50,000 of BNY stock on March 12, up to $250,000 more of Robinhood on March 17, and up to $15,000 of each on March 23, weeks before Treasury announced the two companies' roles on April 6. These are values reported in ranges.
The same filing covers 3,642 transactions between Jan. 6 and March 30, 2026, with buying rising sharply in March, according to CBS News's analysis of the disclosure.
The White House has said Trump's assets are in a trust managed by his children and that there are no conflicts of interest. The filings do not specify who directed the individual trades. The senators' letter asks whether Trump directed the BNY and Robinhood purchases; no source reviewed answers that.
House Oversight Democrats' April 2025 compilation lists Robinhood among companies that gave $2 million to Trump's inaugural fund and says the SEC then dropped an inquiry into the company. This is the compilers' framing; the document does not show the donation caused the decision.
Trump's own OGE Form 278-T, filed May 14, 2026, lists a purchase of Robinhood Markets Class A stock marked "UNSOLICITED" on March 11, 2026 ($15,001 to $50,000), a purchase of Bank of New York Mellon stock marked "UNSOLICITED" on March 12, 2026 ($15,001 to $50,000), and a purchase of Robinhood stock on March 17, 2026 ($100,001 to $250,000). These match the dates and ranges in the senators' letter. The form reports value ranges only and does not say who placed the orders.
The three purchases total roughly $130,000 to $350,000 in reported ranges, within a filing of 3,642 transactions that CBS News put at $212 million to $695 million over Jan. 6 to March 30, 2026, with 1,565 purchases in March alone. The same filing lists purchases of hundreds of other large companies, including other banks, so the BNY and Robinhood purchases appear within broad buying and are a small share of it.
The same OGE filing also lists a March 23, 2026 purchase of Robinhood Class A stock (row 1980) and a March 23, 2026 purchase of Bank of New York Mellon stock (row 2070), each in the $1,001 to $15,000 range. This confirms the March 23 purchases cited in the senators' letter. These rows were checked against images of the scanned pages.
The filing shows Robinhood sales before March as well as purchases: Jan. 6, 2026 ($250,001 to $500,000), Feb. 12, 2026 ($15,001 to $50,000) and Feb. 23, 2026 ($1,001 to $15,000). Taken together, the accounts sold Robinhood in January and February and bought it in March. The form does not say who placed any of the orders.
The "UNSOLICITED" notation on the March 11 and March 12 Robinhood and BNY purchases is not specific to those two companies. On the pages containing them, dozens of adjacent March 11 and March 12 purchases of other large companies (for example Cisco, Intuit, Starbucks, McDonald's, Salesforce and Morgan Stanley) carry the same $15,001 to $50,000 range and the same notation, which suggests the two were part of a broad batch of orders. The form does not explain the notation or say who placed the orders.

Donors and tax treatment
In December 2025, billionaires Michael and Susan Dell pledged $6.25 billion to put $250 into the Trump Accounts of 25 million children aged 10 and younger. AP noted critics argue the accounts don't help children in their early years and may widen the wealth gap.
Contributions funded by a government or nonprofit for a qualified class of children do not count toward the $5,000 annual contribution limit.
Treasury's September 2026 temporary regulations let donors make "qualified stock contributions" of publicly traded domestic stock to fund these class-based contributions.
CNBC reported that tax experts said stock donations would let donors offload appreciated shares without paying capital gains tax and also deduct the stock's fair market value, a double benefit similar to gifting stock to donor-advised funds. The experts were divided on whether the change required legislation or could be done through Treasury guidance.

Statements linking the accounts to Social Security
In July 2025, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at a Breitbart forum that the accounts are a "back door for privatizing Social Security." Hours later he said they will supplement Social Security's guaranteed payments, and Treasury said the accounts work in conjunction with Social Security, which "always will be" a critical safety net.
In May 2026 Sen. Ted Cruz said at the Milken Institute conference that Trump Accounts are Social Security personal accounts. Retirement analysts quoted by ThinkAdvisor said Cruz was rebranding privatization as "ownership" and that the accounts do not replace Social Security today.

Perspectives

Official position — Treasury Department and the administration
Treasury says Trump Accounts are an additive program that works alongside Social Security, which it says will always be a critical safety net. It says auto-enrollment broadens participation, that donors prefer contributions reach all children and not only those whose parents opt in, and that the master trust protects taxpayer information. Robinhood told SEC staff it will collect no fees from the accounts, and the White House says Trump's assets are managed by a trust run by his children with no conflicts of interest.

Critic — Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Democratic senators
The senators' Aug. 12, 2026 letter argues that Trump's accounts bought Robinhood and BNY stock in March 2026, weeks before the administration selected the two companies for Trump Accounts, and that the selection is likely to give them a substantial opportunity to acquire new customers. They ask whether Trump directed the purchases. The letter poses questions; it does not find that he did.

Editorial read — The Author (site author)
The Author's reading: the documented pieces, namely a politically branded program run through Treasury, a contract awarded to companies whose stock the president's accounts bought weeks earlier with terms not made public, and a stock-donation channel that gives large donors tax benefits, add up to a setup that deserves scrutiny and that critics expect to favor wealthy donors and well-connected firms. This is interpretation. The sources here show no diversion of children's money, no evidence the president directed the stock purchases, and no evidence that donations or purchases influenced the contract award.

Research notes
Open leads: (1) the BNY financial-agent agreement and the BNY-Robinhood subcontract, including compensation (FOIA to Treasury; Treasury has published financial agency agreements with compensation exhibits in the past, but none for Trump Accounts was found); how BNY and Robinhood were selected, and what competition, if any, there was (Politico Pro reported industry lobbyists had asked Treasury not to pick a single trustee); (2) who placed the March 2026 BNY and Robinhood orders; the OGE form marks the March 11 and 12 purchases unsolicited but does not say who placed any of them. The March 23 purchases cited by the senators are confirmed in the filing (rows 1980 and 2070, $1,001-$15,000 each); (3) the value of the tax benefit to donors who give appreciated stock, and the identity of the large donors the administration says are lined up; (4) what happens to auto-accounts never claimed, including the proposed rule on disclaiming an account at 18 (comments open through Nov. 30, 2026); (5) whether Robinhood or BNY earns anything from pooled assets beyond the stated arrangement; (6) why the IRS said in March 2026 that auto-enrollment was likely impossible under tax-privacy law and reversed in September.

Note
The administration says Trump Accounts are an additional benefit that works alongside Social Security, that the president's assets are managed by a trust run by his children, and that there are no conflicts of interest; Robinhood told the SEC it will not collect fees from the accounts. No source reviewed shows that the president directed the stock purchases or that children's money is being diverted.

Sources
[1] U.S. Treasury: Treasury Department Designates BNY as Financial Agent (https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0433) · 2026-04-06
[2] Sen. Elizabeth Warren et al., letter to President Trump on stock trades (https://www.warren.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/2026.8.12-Letter-to-Trump-re-Stock-Trades-final.pdf) · 2026-08-12
[3] SEC staff no-action letter, Robinhood Form CRS (Trump accounts) (https://www.sec.gov/files/tm/no-action/robinhood-form-crs-no-action-letter-050526.pdf) · 2026-05
[4] CNBC: Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev on Trump Accounts (https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/07/trump-accounts-put-robinhood-in-front-of-the-next-generation-of-investors-says-ceo-vlad-tenev.html) · 2026-04-07
[5] Associated Press (syndicated): Bessent says Trump accounts are a "back door for privatizing Social Security" (https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/bessent-says-child-savings-accounts-192308931.html) · 2025-07
[6] ThinkAdvisor: Ted Cruz says Trump Accounts could replace Social Security (https://www.thinkadvisor.com/amp/2026/05/14/ted-cruz-says-trump-accounts-could-replace-social-security-retirement-pros-are-skeptical) · 2026-05-14
[7] Federal Register: Trump Accounts (T.D. 10056 temporary regulations) (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/09/30/2026-20026/trump-accounts) · 2026-09-30
[8] CNBC: Wealthy donors stand to win double tax benefit if Trump Accounts allow stock donations (https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/05/14/wealthy-donors-gain-trump-accounts-stock-donations.html) · 2026-05-14
[9] CBS News: 3,600 stock trades in 3 months (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-stock-trades-2026/) · 2026-05
[10] Yahoo Finance (NOTUS reporting): Trump's disclosure lists 3,642 individual trades (https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/eric-trump-says-family-assets-192500434.html) · 2026-05
[11] House Oversight Democrats: 100 Days of Corruption (https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/news/press-releases/100-days-corruption-oversight-democrats-highlight-100-conflicts-interest) · 2025-04-30
[12] Associated Press: Michael and Susan Dell donate $6.25 billion (https://www.wdrb.com/news/national/ap-business-summarybrief-at-4-26-a-m-est/article_1b0ce9ea-e38d-5fb2-a555-aaf588ea925a.html) · 2025-12
[13] Empower: Trump Accounts shift to automatic enrollment (https://www.empower.com/the-currency/money/life/trump-accounts-automatic-enrollment-news) · 2026-10
[14] CBS News: Trump Accounts will automatically be created for up to 60 million kids (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-accounts-auto-enrollment-treasury-children/) · 2026-09-30
[15] Quartz: Treasury picks BNY and Robinhood to manage Trump accounts (https://qz.com/treasury-bny-robinhood-trump-accounts-children) · 2026-04-06
[16] OGE Form 278-T, Donald J. Trump, filed May 14, 2026 (part 2) (https://extapps2.oge.gov/201/Presiden.nsf/PAS+Index/405E4EC4E27BE8D185258DF7002DD1C0/$FILE/Trump%2C%20Donald%20J.-05.08.2026-278T(2).pdf) · 2026-05-14

Connections

Related — DHS's $464 million no-bid aircraft purchase from donor-linked Daedalus Aviation, including five planes bought hours before Noem left (2025-2026)
Both involve a federal contract going to a company with documented ties to Trump donors or accounts; no source shows donations influenced either award.

Same context — Suspiciously timed trades before Trump's Iran and tariff announcements, and active trading in accounts in his name (2025-2026)
Both rest on questions about trades in accounts in Trump's name; this entry covers the BNY and Robinhood purchases ahead of their Trump Accounts selection, and no source shows who directed them.