Quick Take
- Goldman Sachs has agreed to acquire Neos Investments for up to $2.25 billion, a deal that will give the traditional finance giant three crypto income ETFs.
- Neos offers the Bitcoin High Income ETF, Boosted Bitcoin High Income ETF and Ethereum High Income ETF.
- The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027.
Goldman Sachs is set to add three crypto options-income ETFs to its asset management business through the Neos Investments deal it announced Wednesday.
Goldman has agreed to acquire Neos for up to $2.25 billion in cash and equity, subject to certain performance and service commitments. The deal would bring the Neos Bitcoin High Income ETF (BTCI), Boosted Bitcoin High Income ETF (XBCI) and Ethereum High Income ETF (NEHI) under Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory approval and other customary conditions.
Neos, founded in 2022, manages over $30 billion across 19 options-based income ETFs, according to its website. Its funds use options to generate monthly income while offering exposure to assets ranging from U.S. stock indexes to bitcoin, ether and gold.
“As investor demand for active ETFs grows, NEOS' disciplined investment approach is highly complementary to our capabilities across buffer, managed outcome and income strategies,” said David Solomon, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs.
Crypto income ETFs
Notably, the three crypto funds do not invest directly in bitcoin or ether. Instead, they gain exposure through exchange-traded products linked to the assets and use options strategies to generate monthly income. BTCI, launched in October 2024, is the largest of the three, with over $1 billion in net assets as of Wednesday, according to Neos' website.
XBCI, which launched in February, has about $111 million in net assets, and NEHI, launched in December 2025, has over $77 million in net assets.
Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said on X that the deal may explain why Goldman has not launched the Bitcoin Premium Income ETF it filed for in April. Neos' BTCI ETF could help Goldman “leapfrog” BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF (BITA), Balchunas added.
BlackRock launched BITA in June, and the fund currently has about $59 million in net assets.
Goldman has not said whether the Neos deal has changed its plans for the filed fund. The Neos deal follows the firm's about $2 billion acquisition of Innovator Capital Management, which closed in April. Innovator focuses on ETFs that use options to limit risk while offering income and potential gains.
Derivative income ETFs have grown to about $180 billion in assets industry-wide, with the category recording a compound annual growth rate of more than 70% since 2021, Goldman said citing Morningstar.
Goldman, Innovator and Neos together manage more than $130 billion across their global ETF platforms as of June 30. The combined business would hold about $80 billion in active ETFs and make Goldman the eighth-largest active ETF provider, Goldman said, citing Morningstar.
Neos co-founders Troy Cates and Garrett Paolella will join Goldman Sachs Asset Management as partners after the transaction closes. The rest of the Neos team, including its investment and client-service employees, is also expected to join Goldman.
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