Goldman Sachs Buys NEOS for $2.25B, Gains Bitcoin Income ETF
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- Goldman Sachs agreed to acquire NEOS Investments for up to $2.25 billion in a cash-and-equity deal contingent on certain performance and service targets.
- The transaction folds roughly $30 billion in NEOS options-based income ETFs into Goldman Sachs Asset Management, with closing expected in Q1 2027 pending regulatory approval.
- NEOS's flagship Bitcoin covered-call fund BTCI has amassed around $1 billion in AUM since launch, handing Goldman an established crypto-income product rather than a from-scratch launch.
- Goldman had filed in April for its own Bitcoin Premium ETF — analysts saw the structure as an attempt to leapfrog a comparable BlackRock filing; buying NEOS shortcuts that organic path.
- NEOS also runs a similar Ethereum covered-call product, giving Goldman yield strategies in both major crypto assets from a single transaction.
- NEOS co-founders Garrett Paolella and Troy Cates will join Goldman Sachs Asset Management as partners once the deal closes.
- The acquisition lands in a derivative-income ETF market that has grown to roughly $180 billion in assets at a 70%+ CAGR since 2021, per Morningstar.
Why it matters: Goldman leapfrogs its own slower-to-launch Bitcoin Premium ETF by absorbing an established manager — picking up ~$1 billion in BTCI AUM and a $30 billion options-income book instantly, with NEOS founders Paolella and Cates joining GSAM as partners upon the Q1 2027 close. The move puts Goldman directly in competition with BlackRock's parallel crypto-income filing.
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