Goldman Sachs is acquiring NEOS Investments, the firm behind a popular Bitcoin income fund, in a cash-and-equity deal valued at up to $2.25 billion, its latest push deeper into the fast-growing market for options-based ETFs. Goldman Sachs, the 156-year-old Wall Street bank, announced the agreement on Wednesday, August 12. NEOS, founded in 2022, manages about $30 billion across 19 options-based income ETFs, which use options strategies to generate regular payouts for investors.
The deal is subject to performance targets and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, pending regulatory approval. Related: Goldman Sachs dumps Solana, XRP for surprising new investment The acquisition hands Goldman NEOS's BTCI, a roughly $1.1 billion Bitcoin income fund yielding about 27%, according to Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. Rather than holding Bitcoin directly, BTCI holds spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products and sells call options against them, contracts that generate monthly income but cap how much investors gain when Bitcoin rallies, Balchunas said.
Notably, the deal echoes a product Goldman tried to build itself. In April, the bank filed with regulators to launch its own Bitcoin covered-call ETF. Balchunas suggested the NEOS purchase explains why Goldman never launched it, buying an established leader rather than starting from scratch.
Kevin O'Leary bets millions on rare sports cards over gold and crypto Top economist says Bitcoin has one flaw gold will never have Crypto bridge loses nearly all of 200,000 XRP in 97 minutes BTCI's high yield comes with trade-offs. The fund charges a 0.99% fee and, according to NEOS's performance data, lost about 41.7% over the year ending July 31, with its share price falling from a 52-week high of $65.87 to around $28.40. NEOS also notes that some distributions have been classified as a return of investors' own capital rather than investment income.
For Goldman, BTCI is one piece of a larger bet. The NEOS deal, combined with its existing options-based ETF assets and its earlier acquisition of Innovator Capital Management, would give Goldman more than $130 billion in ETF assets, enough to rank it eighth among active ETF managers globally. Industry-wide, derivative income ETFs have grown to roughly $180 billion, compounding at more than 70% a year since 2021, Goldman Sachs said in its announcement, citing Morningstar.
Related: Goldman Sachs files for first Bitcoin ETF This story was originally published by TheStreet on Aug 13, 2026, where it first appeared in the Business News section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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