Goldman Sachs leaps into bitcoin income ETFs with $2.25 billion NEOS buyout The $2.25 billion deal expands Goldman’s derivative platform to $130 billion in total ETF assets, taking direct aim at BlackRock’s rival BITA fund, according to an analyst. – Goldman Sachs agreed to…
quire NEOS Investments, the manager of the $1.1 billion BTCI bitcoin synthetic ETF, in a cash-and-equity deal valuing NEOS at up to $2.25 billion, with closing expected in early 2027 pending regulatory approval. – BTCI, which does not directly hold bitcoin, uses a covered-call strategy on bitcoin ETPs to generate a yield of about 27% but has fallen roughly 43% over the past year and charges a 0.99% expense ratio. – The acquisition gives Goldman a $30 billion options-based ETF platform across 19 funds and, combined with prior deals, will lift its ETF assets above $130 billion as it races rivals like BlackRock in the fast-growing derivative income ETF market. Goldman Sachs is acquiring NEOS Investments, the firm behind BTCI, a $1.1 billion bitcoin synthetic exchange-traded fund (ETF) that yields roughly 27%, according to a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg
The acquisition deal in cash and equity puts NEOS at a valuation of up to $2.25 billion, is subject to performance targets and is expected to close during the first quarter of 2027 pending regulatory approval, Goldman Sachs said Wednesday in a statement detailing the agreement. BTCI launched in October 2024 and has crossed $1 billion in assets in under two years, Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, said in an X post. He also said it holds spot bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs) and sells call options against those positions to generate monthly distributions.
It does not directly hold bitcoin, and investors receive the yield from the product but forfeit some of the upside when bitcoin rallies, he said.. That trade-off is exactly what Goldman filed to build itself four months ago, Balchunas added. On April 14, Goldman…