"Everyone is filing this under Wall Street finally buying bitcoin. Goldman bought something else," the market account Crypto Channel 24 posted on X after Goldman Sachs agreed to buy NEOS Investments and its $1.1 billion bitcoin income ETF for up to $2.25 billion.
The bitcoin price sat near $63,000 as the deal landed, down half from October's $126,000 peak. "This is a huge statement for the bigger crypto movement," posted Sam Price, who runs the Crypto Lifer account on X.
Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas read the acquisition as a shortcut past a rival. "Goldman will get $BTCI in the Neos deal, which is a $1b bitcoin premium income ETF, yields 27% and captures most but not all of bitcoins run-ups," he posted on X. "Nowww I get why GS never launched the btc covered call product they filed months ago. Better to leap frog BlackRock's $BITA vs me too"
Goldman's own August 12 announcement, which puts NEOS at $30 billion in assets across 19 options-based income ETFs, never uses the word bitcoin. "As investor demand for active ETFs grows, NEOS' disciplined investment approach is highly complementary to our capabilities across buffer, managed outcome and income strategies," Goldman Sachs chairman and CEO David Solomon said in the statement. "Together, we will give investors a diverse toolkit for different market environments."
'Spot Was Phase 1'
"Spot was phase 1. Income products are phase 2," the trader account Ery posted on X, framing it as the next stage of Wall Street's bitcoin push.
The category holds roughly $180 billion and has compounded at more than 70% a year since 2021, per Morningstar figures cited in Goldman's release. "BTCI is one of almost 20 ETFs at NEOS," Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan told CoinDesk. "If anything, it shows that bitcoin is just part of the financial world, alongside stocks, bonds, etc."
"The market has to level up because the game is changed," Onramp chief executive Michael Tanguma said on the On The Margin podcast, "and how people manage this asset in 2012 is how they do it today, and it fundamentally won't work."
'Your Upside Sold Off'
Not everyone reads the 27% yield as a gift. "BTCI's 26.73% distribution rate came with a 25.54% YTD NAV drop, while 92% of July's payout was estimated as return of capital," the news account CryptoSlate posted on X.
The fund holds no bitcoin directly, selling call options against bitcoin ETPs and converting potential price gains into monthly income, which keeps the payout high while the bitcoin price falls. "That yield is your upside sold off to the fund," the account CryptoBro posted on X. Crypto Channel 24 noted the fund is "Down 43% in a year."
The BlackRock Race
Balchunas posted that buying NEOS beats launching a "me too" product into a crowded bitcoin ETF market. BlackRock, which bought $871 million of bitcoin on a dip in April, launched its rival BITA income fund in June, and it holds about $59 million against BTCI's $1.1 billion, per Benzinga.
"Together, we'll combine NEOS' entrepreneurial spirit with Goldman Sachs' scale, expertise and resources to expand the reach of NEOS' solutions and deliver even greater value for our investors," NEOS co-founder Troy Cates said in the statement. He and co-founder Garrett Paolella join Goldman Sachs Asset Management as partners when the deal closes, expected in the first quarter of 2027 pending regulatory approval.
"Watch whether Goldman keeps BTCI's existing structure and how it positions the product against BlackRock's BITA," the account Coin World Cap posted on X.