Goldman Vaults Past BlackRock in Bitcoin Yield ETF Race With $2.25B NEOS Deal

Goldman Sachs agreed on Wednesday to acquire NEOS Investments for $2.25 billion — the Westport, Connecticut firm behind the $1.1 billion Bitcoin High Income ETF — in cash and equity, securing an established market position in the Bitcoin income ETF category that dwarfs BlackRock's competing product by nearly 19 to one and rendering Goldman's own pending Bitcoin ETF filing effectively moot. The deal, announced the same day the derivative income ETF sector crossed $40 billion in 2026 inflows, follows Goldman's roughly $2 billion purchase of Innovator Capital Management in April and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, pending regulatory approval.

Why Goldman Bought Instead of Built

The acquisition's most revealing detail is what it says about Goldman's strategy rather than what it says about the deal price.

In April 2026, Goldman filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its own Goldman Sachs Bitcoin Premium Income ETF — a covered-call product designed to sell options against Bitcoin exchange-traded products and distribute the resulting premiums as monthly income. The bank never launched it. By acquiring NEOS instead, Goldman obtained the Bitcoin High Income ETF (BTCI), a fund that has already crossed $1.1 billion in assets since its October 2024 launch, a track record Goldman's unfiled product could not have claimed.