Goldman Sachs to Acquire NEOS Investments in $2.25B Deal

Goldman Sachs announced Wednesday it will buy NEOS Investments in a transaction that could reach $2.25 billion, bringing three crypto-linked income ETFs into the Wall Street bank's lineup.

The acquisition brings specific crypto-income products under Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The ETFs involved are the NEOS Bitcoin High Income ETF (BTCI), the Boosted Bitcoin High Income ETF (XBCI) and the Ethereum High Income ETF (NEHI). According to NEOS disclosures, these funds "dont hold the cryptocurrency directly" and instead rely on derivatives to produce income from crypto-linked exposure.

High headline yields on the products stem largely from selling options premium rather than tracking the spot performance of Bitcoin itself.

NEOS brings $30 billion in assets and expands Goldman's active ETF scale. NEOS oversees roughly $30 billion spread across 19 ETFs that employ options strategies to deliver monthly income. When added to Goldman Sachs Asset Management's existing $40 billion in similar income-oriented, options-based ETFs, the combined active ETF business will reach about $80 billion, making Goldman the eighth-largest active ETF manager according to Morningstar within a wider $130 billion ETF platform.

The transaction follows the bank's prior purchase of Innovator Capital Management and completes a three-way integration centered on derivative-income and buffer/outcome approaches.

Leadership and deal structure tie performance to milestones. NEOS co-founders Garrett Paolella and Troy Cates will come aboard Goldman Sachs Asset Management as partners. The payment will consist of cash and equity, contingent on performance and service milestones.

CEO David Solomon described NEOS's approach as "highly complementary to Goldmans existing buffer, managed-outcome and income capabilities." The founders characterized the combination as uniting NEOS's entrepreneurial spirit with Goldman's scale.

Timeline and regulatory path remain ahead. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, pending regulatory approval. It hands Goldman Sachs a ready-made foothold in the Bitcoin-income ETFs space right as institutional appetite for digital-asset-adjacent, income-generating products continues to grow alongside the broader derivative-income boom.