Introduction: Chapter Two of Wall Street's Entry

If the approval of BlackRock's IBIT in 2024 marked the "first chapter" of Wall Street institutions entering Bitcoin, then April 2026 is writing the "second chapter": no longer passive holding configurations, but active product designs and profit reinvestments. Goldman Sachs, through an ETF application document, has transformed itself from a service provider for Bitcoin ETFs into a publisher; Tether quietly converted the real profits generated from its stablecoin business into Bitcoin reserves through an on-chain transfer. Although the logic of both is different, the results point in the same direction: traditional financial institutions are increasingly deepening their involvement in Bitcoin.

1. Goldman Sachs' Covered Call ETF: A Differentiated Layout Targeting Income Investors

The product logic of Goldman Sachs' latest ETF application is deliberately differentiated from existing spot Bitcoin ETFs in the market: it does not directly hold BTC, but instead captures premiums by holding spot Bitcoin ETPs and simultaneously selling corresponding call options, returning the option premiums to holders in monthly distributions — exchanging part of the upside gains for current cash flow.

The target customer group for this product format is the core users of Goldman Sachs' private wealth management system — high-net-worth and institutional investors who prefer stable returns and have a certain tolerance for asset volatility. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas describes such Covered Call Bitcoin products as "candy for affluent older investors," providing an income advantage over spot ETFs when BTC stagnates or experiences mild declines, but lagging in rapid surges due to capped upside.

Goldman Sachs has previously participated in the Bitcoin market as an authorized participant for BlackRock's IBIT and disclosed indirect Bitcoin exposure in Q4 2025 Form 13F. This application represents a leap from service provider to publisher. If we calculate based on a 75-day SEC review period, this product could be approved as early as the end of June 2026, competing directly with similar products applied for by BlackRock in the "Bitcoin income ETF" segment.

2. Tether's BTC Accumulation: Systematic Reallocation of Stablecoin Profits

Tether's logic for Bitcoin accumulation is fundamentally different from that of all treasury-like listed companies. The BTC purchase capabilities of Strategy, Capital B, and Metaplanet are directly constrained by the financing conditions of the capital markets; Tether’s only source for BTC purchases is the operating profits generated from its USDT stablecoin business — this is a machine-like buyer that is almost unaffected by market sentiment.

In 2025, Tether's net profit exceeded $10 billion, and based on a quarterly profit withdrawal policy of "up to 15%", the potential BTC purchase scale each quarter is approximately $375 million to $500 million. Currently, the holding structure of 97,141 BTC, with an average price of $51,312, means that Tether is one of the holders with the highest unrealized profit ratio among the top five holders, resulting in about $2.175 billion in unrealized gains, a result of continuous and systematic accumulation over the past five years.

It is noteworthy that Tether's Bitcoin reserves are not used to support the 1:1 peg of USDT, but are held as part of excess reserves, with the main backing of its USDT still being cash equivalents and U.S. Treasuries. This structure means that its BTC holdings belong to a "surplus reserve configuration" from a regulatory perspective, fundamentally differing from the core asset positioning of Strategy.

3. ETF Flow Repair: The First Quantitative Signal of Sentiment

On April 14, $411.5 million in net inflows in a single day marked the largest daily institutional net purchase since the breakdown of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire and the announcement of the blocking of Hormuz. BlackRock's IBIT saw positive inflows for five consecutive days, accumulating $696 million, and Morgan Stanley’s MSBT achieved continuous positive inflows in its first week — these two sets of data together indicate that institutions did not massively withdraw when BTC fell to the $71,000 range, but chose to buy the dip.

However, it is important to remain objective: the single-day inflow of $411.5 million is still far below the average daily inflow level during the peak periods of 2025. Year-to-date, ETF cumulative net inflows have just turned positive to about $245 million, and while emotional repair is real, trend confirmation still requires observation of the FOMC meeting on April 29 and the subsequent U.S.-Iran situation.

On April 15, 2026, Goldman Sachs officially became the publisher of Bitcoin products with an ETF application document, while Tether used an on-chain transfer to convert stablecoin profits into Bitcoin reserves, and ETF fund flows provided initial financial support for this price repair with a net inflow of $411.5 million. The participation of traditional finance in Bitcoin is evolving from "product configuration" to "active operation" — the speed of this evolution is faster than the market previously expected.

Data Source: https://bbx.com/ Cryptocurrency concept stock information repository, based on SEC application documents from April 14 to 15, 2026, on-chain data (EmberCN / Arkham Intelligence) and Farside ETF flow data.

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