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In a bid for one of the bank’s first direct pushes into the cryptocurrency investment space, Goldman Sachs filed an application for – on Monday with its Bitcoin Premium Income exchange-traded fund (ETF) being approved.
If investors were to be given access to bitcoin, the fund would provide them with a premium-based investment model that would generate income through an alternative approach. The structure is based on selling options tied to bitcoin-linked ETPs, so that the fund can collect premiums in exchange for capping some upside in strong rallies.
A wider shift on Wall Street is reflected in that trade-off steady income versus full price participation – which means that there’s no longer the same thing as that one does. The latest efforts by asset managers are increasingly attempting to package bitcoin into products similar in nature to dividend-paying stocks or income funds, rather than just on price gains.
The file is just weeks after BlackRock announced accelerated plans for a similar product. The asset manager is now preparing to launch its iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, which will trade under the ticker BITA after it has been successful in its spot Bitcoin ETC, IBIT.
In an updated regulatory filing earlier this month, BlackRock refining the structure of its income-focused fund — analysts expect a launch within weeks.
But Goldman’s move signals that rivalry is expanding beyond spot bitcoin exposure into more complex strategies designed to generate steady returns. They could expand bitcoin access by attracting investors who want income with exposure to the asset.
This filing also marks a gradual change in Goldman’s position on digital assets. David Solomon, CEO of the company, has said he owns “very little” bitcoin and still studies how it works. He recently said ‘I’m a bitcoin observer, I’ve been working more closely to understand how emerging technologies are changing finance.
Solomon has framed crypto as part of a larger shift driven by digital infrastructure. But he said ‘Tokenization… that I think is really much more important,’ referring to the role of blockchain-based systems in future markets.
Nevertheless, Goldman has also been slow to the level of peers like JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley in their development of crypto products, mostly because of regulatory constraints. But in recent years, Solomon has argued that tighter rules limited the bank’s ability to engage more deeply but that position may be shifting as policymakers give clearer advice.
“It’s got to be done thoughtfully, and we’ve got to get it right,” he said earlier this year.
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