Share this article
Bitcoin ETF Approval Is Likely to Benefit Institutional Investors: Goldman Sachs
ETFs offer better investor protection, increased liquidity and lower tracking error than closed-end funds and trusts, the report said.
Updated Mar 8, 2024, 7:44 p.m. Published Jan 11, 2024, 9:15 a.m.
Institutional investors may benefit from the approval of spot bitcoin [BTC] exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as these products will allow them to trade a proxy with low management fees and engage more actively in arbitrage strategies and options hedging, Goldman Sachs (GS) said in a report.
Spot bitcoin ETFs were finally approved in the U.S. on Wednesday, a decade after they were first proposed, in a move that dramatically widens access to the world’s largest cryptocurrency. These groundbreaking products will begin trading today.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
For full coverage of bitcoin ETFs, click here.
Other benefits include “investor protection afforded by ETFs, better liquidity compared to BTC access via private funds, given the ability to trade in and out; lower tracking error in comparison to close-ended funds and trusts, ETF vehicle leverages on standard accounting and reporting processes in context of portfolio management,” the report said.
The bank said investors will also get exposure to BTC without having to assume the risks associated with self-custody, adding that the involvement of household ETF providers such as Blackrock (BLK) and Fidelity lends “experience and credibility in managing these vehicles.”
Goldman warned that investors should also be wary about potential drawbacks.
“Time to market and demand across institutional investors may not be immediate,” the bank said, cautioning that “any long-term sustainable demand for spot BTC ETFs will be subject to product suitability and broader market adoption.”
“Investors do not own physical BTC, and rely on the ETF manager’s ability to effectively carry out the management strategy, which includes a number of risks,” the note said. ETF trading hours are also limited to default market hours, as opposed to the 24/7 continuous trading that is available on crypto native exchanges, the note added.
Investors should also be cautious about the potential for market volatility following the approvals, the report added.
Read more: Bitcoin ETFs: What to Expect on Day One
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Cascade Unveils 24/7 Neo-Brokerage Offering Perpetuals on Cryptos, U.S. Stocks
The platform will let retail traders use one margin account to trade round-the-clock perpetual markets.
What to know:
- Cascade has introduced a 24/7 brokerage-style app for perpetual markets spanning crypto, U.S. equities and private-asset exposure.
- The firm is pitching a single, unified margin account with direct-to-bank U.S. dollar capability for deposits and withdrawals.
- The company has raised $15 million from investors including Polychain Capital, Variant and Coinbase Ventures.
Top Stories
