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$3.5 Trillion Goldman Sachs Files For Bitcoin Premium Income ETF

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$3.5 Trillion Goldman Sachs Files For Bitcoin Premium Income ETF

Goldman Sachs has filed to launch a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, signaling a deeper push by the Wall Street bank into crypto-linked investment products that blend Bitcoin exposure with an options-based income strategy. 

The move follows similar “premium income” designs from issuers such as BlackRock, Morgan Stanley and Grayscale that seek to turn BTC’s volatility into a steady yield stream for investors.

What a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF does

A Bitcoin Premium Income ETF typically holds spot BTC exposure, often through shares of an existing spot Bitcoin ETF, and then sells call options on that position to generate option premium income. 

This “covered‑call” structure collects cash from option buyers and distributes that cash as income, in exchange for giving up part of BTC’s upside above a set strike price.

In practice, the fund benefits when BTC trades sideways or rises only modestly, because it keeps the option premiums while price moves stay inside the range of the sold calls. 

When BTC rallies sharply, the ETF’s gains are capped beyond the strike, since it has already agreed to sell that upside to option buyers. During sell‑offs, the fund still absorbs most of the downside, with the collected premiums providing only partial cushioning.

Why Goldman’s filing matters for bitcoin

Goldman Sachs has already built a large balance‑sheet position in spot BTC ETFs from other issuers, with filings showing more than a billion dollars of exposure through funds such as BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund. A proprietary Bitcoin Premium Income ETF would shift the bank from simply holding third‑party products to manufacturing its own yield‑focused vehicle for clients.

That step aligns Goldman with a growing trend: traditional asset managers now design BTC strategies that look and feel like familiar equity income funds, using covered calls to turn volatility into distributions. For investors, a Goldman‑branded product could broaden access to options‑based BTC income strategies inside brokerage and wealth platforms that already distribute the firm’s ETFs.

For yield‑seeking investors who want BTC exposure but prefer a smoother payout profile, a premium income ETF offers a trade‑off: higher potential cash distributions in exchange for surrendering a chunk of long‑term upside. 

It may appeal to advisers and institutions that view pure spot BTC ETFs as too volatile, yet still want regulated, exchange‑traded access to the asset class.

At the market‑structure level, Goldman’s move underscores how fast BTC is integrating into mainstream portfolio tools, from plain‑vanilla spot ETFs to more complex options‑overlay products. 

If the SEC approves the filing, it could intensify competition in a new niche of Bitcoin income strategies and further legitimize the idea of using BTC not only as a speculative asset, but as an underlying for structured yield.

Editorial Disclaimer: We leverage AI as part of our editorial workflow, including to support research, image generation, and quality assurance processes. All content is directed, reviewed, and approved by our editorial team, who are accountable for accuracy and integrity. AI-generated images use only tools trained on properly licensed material. In Bitcoin, as in media: Don’t trust. Verify.

Satochip Announces Bridge Financing As It Prepares U.S. Push For Open-Source Hardware Wallets

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Satochip Announces Bridge Financing As It Prepares U.S. Push For Open-Source Hardware Wallets

Satochip SRL, a Belgium-based company specializing in secure hardware solutions for digital asset self-custody, today announced that it has secured part of its ongoing bridge financing round with support from existing shareholders and new business angels.

The bridge round will support the company’s strategic expansion into the United States, enabling Satochip to establish a local presence and accelerate sales in one of the world’s largest digital asset markets.

Founded in Belgium, Satochip develops open-source secure hardware wallets and smart card solutions, designed to give users full control over their digital assets. The company’s technology emphasizes security, transparency, and sovereignty, “aligning with the growing global demand for self-custody solutions” according to a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine.

Satochip SRL offers a focused line of open-source NFC smartcard-based hardware solutions for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency self-custody. Its flagship product, the Satochip, is a credit-card-form-factor hardware wallet equipped with an EAL6+ certified secure element that supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, and over 1,000 tokens and NFTs. It pairs with desktop wallets such as Sparrow and Electrum, as well as mobile apps, and requires no battery or screen—transactions are verified through connected software. The company also produces the Satodime, a giftable bearer cold-storage card serving as a modern paper-wallet replacement, and the Seedkeeper, a hardware vault for securely storing seed phrases and passwords. 

All products are fully open-source (AGPLv3 Java Card applet), allowing users to flash generic smartcards themselves. Community adoption has grown notably through integrations such as the SeedSigner + Satochip combo, which enables users to build affordable, air-gapped DIY Bitcoin signing devices, experiment with the technology and develop new grassroots niches and use cases.

“The United States represents a critical market for the future of digital asset security,” said Bastien Taquet, co-founder of Satochip. “With strong support from our investors, this bridge round allows us to build a foothold in the U.S. market while continuing to innovate secure hardware solutions for the global crypto ecosystem. We are welcoming additional strategic investors who want to join us on this growth journey.”

The funding will primarily be used to establish a U.S. operational presence, expand sales and distribution channels, and strengthen B2B partnerships within the crypto ecosystem.  The Satochip Team will attend the Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas at the end of April.

Editorial Disclaimer: We leverage AI as part of our editorial workflow, including to support research, image generation, and quality assurance processes. All content is directed, reviewed, and approved by our editorial team, who are accountable for accuracy and integrity. AI-generated images use only tools trained on properly licensed material. In Bitcoin, as in media: Don’t trust. Verify.

Foundation unveils $1M audit subsidy program

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Foundation unveils $1M audit subsidy program

The Ethereum Foundation is doubling down on one of the ecosystem’s most critical needs: security.

On Tuesday, the organization unveiled a new initiative aimed at tackling a persistent challenge in crypto development—the high cost of smart contract security audits.

Through its “Audit Subsidy Program,” the foundation is partnering with leading audit providers and ecosystem firms to make professional security reviews more accessible to builders.

Backed by a $1 million subsidy pool, the program is designed to lower financial barriers that have historically prevented many teams from undergoing comprehensive audits, despite their importance as an industry best practice.

The initiative is part of the foundation’s broader Trillion Dollar Security Initiative, which focuses on strengthening Ethereum as it scales to support increasingly complex applications and larger amounts of value on-chain.

The program includes partners such as Nethermind, Chainlink Labs and Areta, and connects builders with more than 20 top-tier audit firms, helping streamline access to trusted security expertise across the ecosystem.

Alongside the rollout, the foundation also introduced a new framework it calls the “CROPS principles,” short for censorship resistance, open source, privacy and security. The framework is intended to guide how applications are built and evaluated across the Ethereum ecosystem.

Builders can submit their projects for consideration, after which an expert committee reviews applications. Selected teams receive subsidies that can be applied directly to audit services through Areta’s platform. The program is open to all Ethereum mainnet builders, regardless of size or stage.

“The subsidy program makes audits accessible and strengthens the Ethereum ecosystem,” the foundation wrote on X.

Read more: Ethereum Foundation publishes new mandate defining its role, core principles

Figure and Hastra Add Auto Loans to Tokenized Credit Platform

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Figure and Hastra Add Auto Loans to Tokenized Credit Platform

Figure and Hastra are adding auto loans to their tokenized credit platform, expanding the types of real-world assets available to decentralized finance (DeFi) investors beyond home equity products.

Democratized Prime, a decentralized lending marketplace on Figure Markets, is adding auto finance as its first new asset class as part of its plan to build a marketplace where different types of consumer credit can be issued, traded and funded onchain, according to a Tuesday announcement shared with Cointelegraph.

“We’ve been purposefully building toward this,” Michael Tannenbaum, CEO of Figure, said, adding that the platform has originated over $22 billion in onchain loans.

The move marks an early test of whether tokenized private credit can expand beyond home-equity products into mainstream consumer lending, a shift that could widen DeFi’s access to real-world yield but also import the credit risks of subprime-style loan markets.

Figure launched Hastra in 2025, with its public debut and rollout occurring later that year. The platform, which initially launched on Solana (SOL), was built as an extension of Figure’s lending ecosystem, using its loan origination and credit infrastructure to bring real-world assets (RWAs) onchain.

Related: Nauru taps Bitcoiner Dadvan Yousuf for trade role in digital asset push

Hastra expands to EVM chains

At the same time, Hastra is expanding to Ethereum-compatible (EVM) chains, opening access to a larger DeFi ecosystem and bringing its existing credit system, including home equity loan exposure, to new chains.

A Figure spokesperson told Cointelegraph that Hastra will start with Ethereum (ETH) as part of its push into EVM chains. They also confirmed that the auto finance product will first launch on Solana before rolling out on Ethereum around June.

Figure shares are down 12% YTD. Source: Yahoo! Finance

Still, bringing consumer loans onchain does not remove the underlying risks tied to those assets. Non-prime auto loans can carry higher default rates, especially in weaker economic conditions.

There are also questions around regulation, transparency and how these blockchain-based credit products would perform under stress or during volatile market conditions.

Related: Circle to launch cirBTC wrapped Bitcoin, challenging BitGo and Coinbase

Figure gains bullish outlook from Bernstein

Earlier this month, Bernstein analysts said Figure may be undervalued, assigning the blockchain-based lender an “Outperform” rating and a $67 price target, nearly double its recent trading price. The bullish outlook follows growth in its tokenized lending business, with loan originations surpassing $1.2 billion in March and first-quarter volumes reaching $2.9 billion.

Figure went public on Sept. 11, 2025, listing on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol FIGR.

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