Goldman Sachs Acquires NEOS Investments and Its $1.1 Billion Bitcoin ETF

Goldman Sachs has acquired NEOS Investments and its Bitcoin High Income ETF (BTCI) worth $1.1 billion. The deal, announced on August 12, gives Goldman Sachs a prominent position in the crypto ETF industry without launching its own product. This move bypasses delays with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where Goldman Sachs had filed an application for its native ETF four months ago.

The NEOS Bitcoin ETF is a 'covered-call' synthetic ETF, tracking the digital asset's price and selling options contracts to generate consistent yield. It charges investors a fee of 0.99%, matching rivals such as Roundhill but facing competition from BlackRock's 0.65%. This type of ETF caps investors' upside potential in crypto bull markets, indicating growing institutional engagement with the digital asset industry.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has also taken a multi-million-dollar position in Bitcoin through its holding in MSTR, worth about $72 million. The SNB owns 736,300 shares of MSTR and appears to have worked around direct crypto exposure by investing in Strategy, which benefits from both Bitcoin and large-cap US tech indexes.