Believe has unveiled a new structure that unifies its Global Commercial organization and its Product, Tech & Operations organization.
Under the changes, announced by the Paris-based company on Thursday (July 9), Elsa Bahamonde Bourgain will lead the commercial organization – bringing together the Artist Services and Label & Artist Solutions divisions – while Romain Becker will lead Product, Tech & Operations as Group Chief Operating Officer.
According to a press release, the restructure and Believe’s “From Access to Success” strategic plan are together central to its push to become what it calls “One Global Artist Development Company”.
Bahamonde Bourgain will lead Believe’s global commercial efforts as President of Artist Services and Label & Artist Solutions, reporting to Global Head of Music Romain Vivien.
Her remit brings together the company’s Artist Services and Label & Artist Solutions divisions.
According to Believe, its Artist Services division provides “solutions for independent artists eager to reach local audiences and achieve global success,” across a roster “covering all musical genres.”
The company’s ‘Label & Artist Solutions‘ business line provides independent labels and established artists with services including distribution, marketing, and digital promotion.
“This new structure is a game-changer designed to supercharge our artist development strategy on a whole new scale.”
Bahamonde Bourgain
Elsa Bahamonde Bourgain joined Believe in 2021 to run its Artist Services operation, after holding senior roles at Criteo, Pixmania and Veepee.
According to the company, she has been instrumental in the launch of more than 15 labels around the world.
Liubov Kevkhaian has been appointed VP of Label & Artist Solutions, after five years as Believe’s Managing Director for Central & Eastern Europe.
In that role, she oversaw the company’s strategic partnership with Romania-based independent label Global Records.
Emmanuelle de Hosson has been appointed VP of Artist Services, joining from French independent label Play Two.
She had served as General Director of Play Two since 2023, working with French artists including Vitaa, Kalash, GIMS and Tayc.
Romain Becker becomes Group Chief Operating Officer, reporting to Founder and CEO Denis Ladegaillerie.
He will lead a unified Product, Tech & Operations structure across the Believe group.
Becker was previously Believe’s Chief Product, Operations and Marketing Services Officer, and earlier served as President of Label & Artist Solutions.
He also held roles at Google, where he led YouTube‘s music partnerships.
Becker will oversee a team that includes Group CTO Antoine Jacoutot, Global SVP Operations Sandrine Lalau-Keraly and newly appointed Group CPO Luxi Huang, previously TuneCore‘s Chief Technology and Product Officer.
“We have been working on unifying Believe’s Product, Tech, and Operations organization – which fully integrates TuneCore – for a few years now, and I am excited to continue building bridges between our technology capabilities and our music teams.”
Romain Becker
“I am incredibly excited to step into this role at such a pivotal moment for Believe,” said Bahamonde Bourgain.
“This new structure is a game-changer designed to supercharge our artist development strategy on a whole new scale. Together with Liubov and Emmanuelle, both exceptional leaders, we are uniquely positioned to drive the future of independent music.”
“We have been working on unifying Believe’s Product, Tech, and Operations organization – which fully integrates TuneCore – for a few years now, and I am excited to continue building bridges between our technology capabilities and our music teams,” said Romain Becker, Group Chief Operating Officer.
“Combining deep music expertise with technology as a catalyst for artist development is at the core of Believe’s DNA.
“This unified organization – within which Luxi, Antoine and Sandrine work in unison – already allows us to move faster and deliver even better tools for Believe and TuneCore’s artists, songwriters, labels, and publishers around the world.”
Credit: Anis Martin
“Unifying Believe’s commercial and Product, Tech and Operations organizations is not merely a structural evolution. It is a deliberate choice to sharpen our impact, with strong synergies and impeccable collaboration between these two organizations.”
Denis Ladegaillerie, Believe
Denis Ladegaillerie, Believe’s Founder and CEO, said: “Elsa and Romain are two exceptional leaders, whose deep understanding of Believe and unparalleled market intelligence, will undoubtedly allow them to continue delivering outstanding results as they step into their new roles.
“Unifying Believe’s commercial and Product, Tech and Operations’ organizations is not merely a structural evolution.
“It is a deliberate choice to sharpen our impact, with strong synergies and impeccable collaboration between these two organizations. We now have the governance and the talent to deliver on our promise to artists, labels, songwriters and publishers worldwide. They constitute the foundations for our 2030 ambition.”
The restructure builds on recent senior appointments at Believe, including Chris Meehan as CEO of Publishing and Brian Miller as TuneCore’s Chief Business Officer.
Believe was taken majority-private in 2024 by a consortium including its founder, EQT and TCV, and generated more than $1 billion in revenue that year.
The Paris-headquartered company operates in more than 50 countries and employs over 2,000 people, with brands including Nuclear Blast, naïve, TuneCore and Sentric.Music Business Worldwide
Editor’s Note: Thanks for reading! As a special offer for our readers, save $100 on your ticket to BPCON2026—BiggerPockets’ annual real estate investing conference—using code MYRE100 at checkout.
As if interest rates and house prices were not enough of a reason to think twice about investing in real estate, soaring insurance costs are slicing through cash flow like a machete hacking at weeds on a path to a foreclosure.
According to LendingTree data cited by Homes.com, Colorado’s homeowner’s insurance premiums jumped 18.32% in 2025, more than triple the national increase of 6%. However, that’s not the half of it. Colorado’s coverage has soared by about 100.8% since 2020, making investing there a perilous proposition.
Though extreme, Colorado’s increase could be a bellwether of what’s to come nationally, where insurance costs have also been on a tear in many parts of the country, with 71% of homeowners saying that their insurance costs have increased over the last few years.
Why Insurance Costs Are Rising So Fast
Colorado sits at the eye of the perfect insurance storm, where extreme weather, inflation, and high legal costs intersect. This, insurers say, is the reason claims and premiums are rising so fast, according to Homes.com.
However, other states aren’t far behind. Iowa has increased by 96% and Minnesota by 88.2%, while the rest of the nation has seen costs increase by 46.8% over the same period.
Mark Friedlander of the Insurance Information Institute told Homes.com in an email that Colorado “is among the least affordable states for home insurance coverage,” with premiums taking up 2.43% of household income, the 11th highest in the nation, according to the 2025 Insurance Research Council’s Affordability Index.
“A Dual-Catastrophe State”
“Unfortunately, [we’re a] dual-catastrophe state,” Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Association, said on Homes.com. “When you see the hail risk and the wildfire risk, that really puts Colorado as a target. At the same time, it’s been a very unprofitable state.”
Insurers expect Colorado to hold its own financially, which is why its costs are so high. “Insurance carriers expect every state to be profitable and price accordingly, more so today than in years past,” John Klaassen, president of Lightship Insurance in Denver, told Homes.com in an email. “They won’t let other states subsidize Colorado.”
In California, the insurance of last resort, the FAIR Plan—backed by six standard insurance companies for wildfire damage only—is raising rates by 29.1% for some homeowners, starting Oct. 15.
Foreclosures Follow Insurance Increases
For landlords, the ever-escalating cost of insurance can be the difference between positive and negative cash flow. According to LendingTree, Colorado’s insurance price is almost double the national average, and Colorado’s foreclosure spike—up 51% year over year—is a result of the state’s overall housing costs.
Program director Patrick Noonan at Colorado Housing Connects, a statewide housing hotline, told Homes.com:
“Oftentimes we’re helping people work with their servicers on some of the different resolutions that might be available. That could be a loan modification. It could be a partial claim. It could be forbearance. [It’s] really just trying to figure out what options are available through the mortgage servicer.”
The National Picture
National numbers reflect what Colorado shows on a larger scale. The Wall Street Journal reports data from ATTOM that shows U.S. foreclosure filings climbed to nearly 119,000 properties in the first quarter of 2026, a 26% increase from a year earlier, with property taxes and insurance cited as contributing factors to higher housing costs.
“They’re having payment shocks from taxes and insurance…along with potential job distress,” Marina Walsh, an economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association, told the Journal of the effect of rising costs on property owners. “[For homeowners who have bought recently], it’s this layering effect that could create distress.”
Another analysis by the Levy Economics Institute at Bard College corroborated these findings, stating that homeowners in the United States are “overburdened and struggling to keep up with the cost of coverage.”
Tenants Are Already Cost-Burdened Before Rental Hikes
For small landlords, the issue is only exacerbated if the expense is passed down to tenants who are already cost-burdened and more likely to default on their rent. According to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies:
“12.1 million renters (26%) spend more than half of their income on rent and utilities, making them severely burdened. From 2001 to 2024, renter incomes rose by 9% in real terms while rents rose by 30%. As a result, the residual income that households have left over after paying rent has declined, especially for lower-income renters.”
Many landlords who ran a cash flow analysis before buying their investments have seen those initial numbers blown out of the water as insurance costs have soared while rents have remained flat.
Now, “all of a sudden, a year later or three years later, that mortgage payment jumps beyond that percentage that they had accounted for when you add in insurance and taxes,” Rebecca Carter, a LegalShield provider attorney who works with clients in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, told the Journal.
Policy Solutions Aim to Curb Costs
Escalating insurance costs feed into the national narrative of a housing affordability crisis, and, as such, many states are attempting to address it. In Colorado, lawmakers have created grant programs to help fund hail-resistant roofs and are rolling out a statewide wildfire code to reduce future losses.
In New York, Mayor Mamdani has acknowledged that insurance costs are crippling landlords’ NOI and has promised to help by providing cheaper property and liability insurance to owners of affordable housing and rent-stabilized buildings.
“Addressing the housing crisis requires comprehensive solutions,”The New York Timesreported Mamdani as saying as he introduced the program at a luncheon held by the Citizens Housing & Planning Council, a nonprofit group. “As we offer alternatives to the prohibitive cost of insurance, we are delivering exactly that.”
Final Thoughts
BiggerPockets has covered practical ways to reduce insurance costs in detail in recent months, so I won’t go over those here. Instead, I have to mention the importance of maintaining an umbrella policy. Amid the stress of shopping around for the lowest-cost insurance policy, one of the first things landlords dispense with is “extras” like an umbrella policy.
This could be a very costly mistake. The reason investing in residential real estate is so problematic is that you are not only investing in land, bricks, and mortar but also human beings, and, out of those three things, unfortunately, humans are the most unreliable.
An umbrella policy provides you with extra insurance beyond what your standard homeowners policy covers. It is extremely affordable—around $200 for $1 million of coverage.
As a landlord who has dealt with gang activity, police raids, and multiple fires, I can attest to the importance of being well-insured. Even if your insurance bills have increased, hold on to your umbrella policy. Landlording is risky, highly litigious, and very stressful. Don’t add to your stress by being underinsured. If you can’t afford the insurance, don’t buy the home.
Investors choosing between Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF(PPA 0.25%) and ARK Space & Defense Innovation ETF(ARKX +0.37%) may weigh the lower costs of PPA against the more aggressive, technology-focused strategy of ARKX.
Both funds target the final frontier, but they take different trajectories. Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF tracks a concentrated index of domestic aerospace and defense companies, providing exposure to traditional military contractors. In contrast, ARK Space & Defense Innovation ETF is an actively managed fund that casts a wider, more speculative net across orbital and suborbital technologies.
Snapshot (cost & size)
Metric
ARKX
PPA
Issuer
ARK
Invesco
Share price
$32.30 (as of 2026-07-08)
$175.51 (as of 2026-07-08)
Expense ratio
0.75%
0.58%
1-yr return (as of 2026-07-08)
33.7%
24.6%
Dividend yield
None
0.4%
Beta
1.41
0.74
AUM
$1.1B
$8.6B
Beta measures price volatility relative to the S&P 500; beta is calculated from five-year monthly returns. The 1-yr return represents total return over the trailing 12 months. Dividend yield is the trailing-12-month distribution yield.
ARK Space & Defense Innovation ETF charges 0.75%, making it the more expensive option compared to the 0.58% fee for Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF. These costs represent the annual management fees deducted from fund performance to cover administrative and oversight expenses.
Performance & risk comparison
Metric
ARKX
PPA
Max drawdown (4 yr)
(25.6%)
(15.4%)
Growth of $1,000 over 4 years (total return)
$2,337
$2,557
What’s inside
The Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF is an industrials-heavy portfolio with approximately 90% of assets concentrated in that sector. Its largest positions include GE Aerospace(GE +0.72%)at 7.3%, RTX Corp(RTX 0.04%) at 7.2%, and Boeing Co.(BA 0.64%) at 7.1%. It holds 62 different securities and was launched in 2005. It focuses on companies systematically important to U.S. national security and government space operations, favoring established firms with significant defense contracts.
The ARK Space & Defense Innovation ETF leans more toward the technology sector, which accounts for 24% of its weight, although industrials still represent 59% of the portfolio. Its top holdings include Space Exploration Technologies(SPCX +2.39%) at 8.8%, L3Harris Technologies(LHX 1.55%) at 6.5%, and Rocket Lab Corp at 6.4%. It holds 45 securities and was launched in 2021. It seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in companies leading orbital and suborbital space innovation, including firms that use satellite technology for terrestrial applications such as precision agriculture.
Which fund is the better buy?
While these ETFs cover the same sector, they differ significantly from one another.
The key difference between the Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF — PPA — and the ARK Space & Defense Innovation ETF — ARKX — is that PPA is a passively managed ETF meant to reflect an index, the SPADE Defense Index, while ARKX is actively managed, meaning a person or team is making decisions to shift assets among its investment landscape. Indeed, the weightings of ARKX’s top 10 holdings change frequently, such as the addition of SpaceX since its IPO on June 12.
The active hand is paying off. The year-to-date return of ARKX is about 11.5%, with a 33.7% one-year return. PPA has performed decently, with year-to-date and 1-year returns of 12.2% and 24.6%, respectively.
Longer-term PPA has respectable 5-year and 10-year returns of 19.4% and 17.8%, respectively. ARKX has a 10.2% 5-year return (and no 10-year return given its age).
The long-term results of PPA are a strong argument for that fund. But If you trust that the active managers who have posted a good 1-year return are acting on skill and insight, then the ARK Space & Defense Innovation ETF is the better choice.
For more guidance on ETF investing, check out the full guide at this link.
Amazon has dropped the Sonos Ace Noise Cancelling Wireless Over-Ear Headphones to $279, down from $399. Shipping is free.
These premium headphones feature Dolby Atmos with dynamic head tracking, lossless audio over Bluetooth or USB-C, active noise cancellation, up to 30 hours of battery life, and rapid charging that provides up to 3 hours of playback from a 3-minute charge.
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Guru’s Wrap-up
If you’re looking for premium noise-cancelling headphones with excellent sound quality and long battery life, this is a solid deal. I usually go for the cheaper stuff myself.
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases made through this article. Using links on the site for Amazon purchases is the best way you can support the site as you normally can’t earn cash back for these purchases. But, you should still check shopping portals such as Rakuten, TopCashback, RebatesMe, ShopBack and others for possible cashback. Your support is always greatly appreciated!
Mortgage rates moved higher this week, as Treasury yields moved off of last week’s low as investors had concerns not just over the Iran ceasefire but also inflation.
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The 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 6.49% as of July 9, the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey reported. This was up from last week when it was 6.43%. However, a year ago this product averaged 6.72%.
Meanwhile, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.82%, versus 5.79% a week ago, and 5.86% for the same period last year.
“Mortgage rates have not changed much recently, but economic growth and housing affordability continue to improve for homebuyers as they shop for homes in today’s market,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac chief economist, in a press release.
However, when bond investors shift their views on inflation or economic growth, it is more likely to cause a shift in the 10-year Treasury and mortgage rates typically follow within days, said Kyle Bass, production business manager at Refi.com, in a statement.
This is why this week’s movement in the Freddie Mac PMMS “is worth understanding because many homeowners assume the Federal Reserve’s decisions drive their mortgage rates,” Bass said. “That is not quite how it works.”
Recent Mortgage Banker Association Weekly Application Survey activity shows how quickly borrowers have been responding to yield-driven rate changes.
“The demand is significant, but it is activating in short windows rather than building into a sustained trend,” Bass said. “This surge-and-retreat pattern is what a window market looks like in practice, and it has defined refinance activity throughout the spring and into the summer.”
As tracked by Optimal Blue mortgage rates have been trending higher, even before this latest hiccup in the Iran conflict.
On June 26, the conforming 30-year FRM hit its recent low point of 6.41%. Since then, for the most part, the rate has been climbing and on July 8, got to 6.57%.
Lender Price data posted on the National Mortgage News website had the 30-year FRM at 6.78% as of 11 a.m. on Thursday morning, 1 basis point lower from 24 hours earlier. A week earlier, the rate was 6.62%.
The 10-year yield closed at 4.57% on July 8, up from 4.48% seven days prior and 4.42% on June 30.
While the failed ceasefire helped to drive the Treasury yields higher, “to be fair, rates were likely to rise anyway,” Kate Wood, NerdWallet’s lending expert, said in a Thursday morning statement. “Even without the latest fighting, inflation remains a concern, and Wednesday’s minutes from the June meeting of the Federal Reserve showed at least some of the central bankers were already on board with a rate hike.”
While inflation data to be released next week is expected to show a slight improvement, the renewed hostilities could render those numbers moot. “For now, it feels like the best case scenario is mortgage rates increasing slowly rather than spiking,” Wood said.
While Zillow increased its rate outlook, the change was due more to secondary market considerations, although the increase in the 10-year Treasury also had an impact.
“Zillow’s forecast is for rates to ease only gradually, drifting to roughly 6.3% by the end of 2026,” said Kara Ng, senior economist at Zillow Home Loans, in a Wednesday night comment. “This modest upward revision to the forecast is partly driven by government-sponsored enterprise purchases of mortgage-backed securities falling short of market expectations, which dampened a source of downward pressure against lingering inflation.”
If rates end the year at this point, it would be higher than last fall and winter. This means “affordability could shift from a tailwind relative to last year to more of a headwind, especially when comparing listings and sales,” Ng said.
Is your company’s outsourced AI technology leaving it vulnerable to unexpected risk? As enterprises increasingly embed third-party systems into their workflows, technological risk has led to new legal and operational responsibilities. Leaders may have little visibility into how a model was trained or how it changes, yet when it discriminates, mishandles data, or harms a customer, regulators and plaintiffs often look first to the company that deployed it.
Disclaimer
——————————-
This video is created solely for educational and informational purposes and is based on individual research. It should not be considered as financial, investment, or trading advice. We are not SEBI-registered investment advisors or analysts. Viewers are strongly advised to conduct their own research and consult with a SEBI-registered financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
As per SEBI’s study on the derivatives segment, nine out of ten traders in the Futures & Options (F&O) market incur losses, with the average loss-making trader losing significantly more than the profitable ones gain. Trading in derivatives involves substantial risk and is not suitable for all investors.
Regarding cryptocurrencies in India: Cryptocurrencies are currently not considered legal tender in India, but trading and holding crypto assets is not banned. However, they are unregulated, and the Government of India, RBI, and SEBI have repeatedly cautioned investors about the high volatility and risk of fraud. Crypto gains are subject to a 30% tax on profits and 1% TDS on transactions as per the current tax laws. Regulatory frameworks may change in the future, and viewers should stay updated with official guidelines before making any decisions in this space.
Stock market investments are subject to market risks, and past performance is not indicative of future results. We do not guarantee any profits or protection against losses. This content is for educational purposes only and is based on personal research. Viewers should always conduct their own due diligence before making any financial decisions.
By watching this video, you acknowledge that we and our representatives are not liable for any financial losses or decisions made based on the information provided. Always trade and invest responsibly.
When families map out how to pay for college, the conversation usually starts with federal loans and then jumps straight to the big national private lenders. Credit unions rarely come up in student loan conversations. That’s a miss, because for many borrowers, they can offer lower rates, simpler borrowing experience, and personalized service that many large national lenders can’t match.
In partnership with Student Choice, let’s dive into why a credit union might make the most sense to help you pay for college this year. Check out Student Choice here >>
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Rates That Hold Up Against The Big Lenders
Let’s start with the numbers, since that’s what most people care about. For the 2026-27 school year, federal student loans carry fixed rates of 6.52% for undergraduates, 8.07% for graduate students, and 9.07% for Parent and Grad PLUS loans — and PLUS loans add a roughly 4.2% origination fee on top of that.
Private student loans from credit unions, through a network like Student Choice, currently run as low as 2.99% APR.
Over a standard 10-year repayment term, that rate gap alone can mean paying roughly $2,056 more in interest on a $10,000 loan, about $5,141 more on a $25,000 loan, and about $20,562 more on a $100,000 loan, before factoring in any origination fees.
For families filling the gap after federal aid, a credit union loan often beats a Parent PLUS loan on both rate and fees — worth checking before you sign anything.
A Loan That Doesn’t Make You Start Over Every Year
One of the biggest frustrations with traditional private student loans is that you must apply for a new loan every academic year. That means another application, another approval decision, a new rate, and another round of paperwork – all while you’re already juggling classes, financial aid, and tuition deadlines.
Many credit unions offer something different: an education line of credit You get approved once for a borrowing limit that can be used over multiple years of school*. Draw from it as needed without a brand-new application and approval cycle every fall. Unlike taking out one large loan upfront, an education line of credit lets you borrow only the amount you actually need each semester. If your costs change because of scholarships, grants, or living arrangements, you simply borrow less helping reduce unnecessary interest over time.
We covered how that works in a previous article, but the short version is that it spares you the annual paperwork scramble and gives you a known borrowing ceiling to plan around. Lines are still subject to annual review and satisfactory academic progress, so it’s not unconditional, but it removes most of the friction of borrowing year after year.
Service Built Around Members, Not Shareholders
Credit unions are member-owned nonprofits, not investor-driven banks. Because of this, their goal isn’t maximizing profit for shareholders. Instead, they provide value to members through lower rates and fewer fees. It also often means you can reach a real person when a payment question comes up — something co-borrowers paying tuition for more than one child notice quickly.
You also don’t have to be a member to apply. With most credit union student loans, you can apply first and join once you’re approved, so membership eligibility isn’t a barrier to getting a quote.
See for yourself at Student Choice.
Easy To Compare, Easy To Refinance Later
The old knock on credit unions was that you’d have to track down each one individually. That’s no longer the case. Student Choice lets you answer a few questions about where you live, work, and go to school, then compare real rates from several credit unions at once — like how you’d shop with a national lender, but with member-owned institutions.
Bottom Line
Credit unions won’t be the right answer for everyone, and you should always max out federal aid first, since those loans carry protections private loans can’t match.
But once you’ve hit federal limits, used up all your scholarships, and you’re comparing private options, a credit union deserves a place at the top of your comparison list. Between competitive rates, the flexibility of an education line of credit you don’t have to reapply for, and personalized service built around members. Many families discover it’s one of the simplest and smartest ways to pay for college.
You can compare credit union rates through Student Choice to see what you’d qualify for.
Disclosures
*Subject to annual review and credit qualification. Must meet school’s Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) requirements.
Editor: Colin Graves
The post Why a Credit Union Might Be the Smartest Place to Get a Student Loan appeared first on The College Investor.
The oil industry has spent more than a century pushing into new frontiers. Its engineers pulled crude from beneath deserts, oceans and frozen tundra. Its traders built markets that turned oil into the world’s most actively traded commodity.
Now a small crypto startup is trying to persuade the industry to experiment with a different kind of frontier: putting a barrel of oil on a blockchain.
The company, Energy Substantiation, wants oil suppliers to help support a digital token tied to physical crude. For decades, ownership of real-world barrels has largely been the preserve of producers, traders and large institutions. Energy Substantiation is seeking to open up the market to anyone with a crypto wallet and a small outlay.
“It is remarkable to me that people can own dollars and people can own gold, but they’ve never been able to own oil,” JP Thieriot, who is spearheading the idea as Energy Substantiation’s co-founder, said in an interview.
His startup is borrowing from a familiar playbook. Stablecoins digitized claims on dollars, growing from a fringe experiment into a system that settles trillions of dollars a year. Energy Substantiation is betting something similar can be done with oil — a far messier asset than the currency behind stablecoins.
Its WTIC token is designed to represent one barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude. Unlike oil ETFs or crypto perpetuals, the product is being pitched as a token backed by physical oil rather than futures or other derivative contracts. Investors can also trade it around the clock. Today, benchmark WTI and Brent crude futures trade primarily on CME Group Inc. and Intercontinental Exchange Inc., with markets closed on weekends. That has become a growing source of frustration for investors as developments in the Iran conflict occur before trading resumes, driving recent interest in products that lean on crypto’s always-on infrastructure to facilitate 24/7 oil trading.
Read More: CME, ICE Push US to Curb Crypto’s Oil Trading Upstart
But even if speculators are ready for it, an oil-backed token may be a tough sell to an industry built around physical assets. Thieriot recalls one early investor meeting where the idea was dismissed as an uneasy mashup of Texas business culture and crypto: “Bubba meets Bitcoin — it’s never going to work.”
For now, the vision remains far larger than the market. The on-chain value of WTIC currently stands at about $80,000, though the token is expected to debut on LMAX and receive an additional $1 million in liquidity down the road. Thieriot said the startup is working with about a dozen commodities firms and oil suppliers, including one major trading house, and is in talks with other exchanges and market makers.
How it works
WTIC is designed to track the price of West Texas Intermediate crude. Suppliers feed oil into the system through a reverse Dutch auction, which entails offering barrels at a discount to the day’s market price. The company says the tradeoff lets producers monetize operational inventories, including pipeline line fill and tank bottoms, that would otherwise generate little revenue. Investors can then buy and sell the tokens on blockchain networks, while new ones are created through a daily minting process.
Holders can redeem WTIC at the daily spot closing price, though the company does not expect many investors to take physical delivery of crude. Energy Substantiation says the structure allows the underlying oil to be treated as a spot commodity rather than a derivative, which the company says would subject it to lighter regulation.
“Launching a token is easy. The challenge is building a liquid market,” said Javier Molina, a crypto analyst at eToro. “Success will depend on if they can attract energy participants and not just crypto players.”
There is clearly demand for round-the-clock oil exposure, though much of it is already being met. On Hyperliquid, tokenized WTI and Brent perpetual futures have become the two most actively traded commodity products on the platform, with activity surging in the grip of the Middle East conflict. CME surprised industry participants — including its own regulator — with plans to offer 24-hour, seven-days-a-week trading in new, smaller crude oil futures by late August.
On top of pulling liquidity away from products that already exist, Energy Substantiation will have to ensure that blockchain ownership is legally enforceable in the offline world, said Christian Catalini, founder of the MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab. “For the market to be truly efficient, the bridge between online and offline record should have minimum counterparty risk. Otherwise you’re not trading the actual underlying asset, you’re essentially trading an IOU.”
In the making
Thieriot first pursued the idea more than a decade ago after helping build one of crypto’s earliest digital-dollar businesses. But unlike dollars or gold, crude posed major obstacles: storage is expensive, barrels differ in quality and oil moves constantly through a sprawling physical network.
The breakthrough came when Thieriot teamed up with financier and mathematician Donald Putnam, who developed a framework for converting different crude grades into a common energy unit measured in British thermal units. The model attempts to solve one of the industry’s oldest problems: treating unlike barrels as a single tradable asset.
The system also relies on inventory that typically sits inside the machinery of the oil business itself. Pipeline line fill, tank bottoms and other operational inventories are often carried on company balance sheets but generate little direct revenue. Energy Substantiation’s model attempts to monetize those dormant barrels while using them to back digital tokens.
“It’s the best beta you can get in the market,” said Eric Melvin, chief executive officer of Mobius Risk Group and a member of EnSub’s advisory board, referring to a measure of how closely an asset’s price tracks the broader market.
The idea remained largely theoretical until institutional acceptance of crypto, a friendlier regulatory environment and war in the Middle East pushed oil back to the center of investor attention just as Energy Substantiation prepared to launch.
“We dramatically underestimated retail in oil,” Thieriot said. In moments of geopolitical stress, the commodity “really does become a ticker for global instability,” he added.
Still, WTIC depends on producers maintaining sufficient inventories to back the tokens, something that is no longer a given as war-driven supply shortages undercut reserves. Energy Substantiation says operational inventories are unlikely to fall to levels that would threaten the energy complex, even during periods of market stress.
The company’s pitch has also drawn scrutiny in other ways. Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian, a sitting member of the agency that regulates the state’s oil and gas production, is a part of Energy Substantiation’s advisory board and personally emailed prospective investors ahead of the token’s launch, the Texas Tribune reported in April. Christian referred questions from Bloomberg to Energy Substantiation, whose spokesperson said he was invited to serve because of his “extensive knowledge of the energy sector” and does not direct the company’s day-to-day operations or business decisions.
The startup plans to introduce tokens backed by Brent crude and Henry Hub natural gas later this year. Whether those products succeed may matter less than what they represent. Stablecoins transformed dollars into internet-native assets. Projects like WTIC are attempting something similar with commodities, testing whether claims on physical resources can move as freely as digital money.
“At the end of the day, blockchain makes it all possible,” Thieriot said.
Update 7/8/26: New round of $200 bonus was sent out via email ([email protected]). Requires $1,000 in spend.
Update 6/26/25: new round of $300 bonus was sent out via email (from: [email protected]): Must get a new Apple Card by July 7, and spend $1,500 in your first 60 days.
The Offer
Check your emails for the following targeted offer: (subject: Preview your new Apple Card credit limit offer.)
Signup for Apple card by September 3, 2024, and get $300 after you spend $1,500 within 60 days.
Card Details
Card earns the following rewards:
Other details:
Our Verdict
Initially Apple Card offered no signup bonus at all, then they mellowed and started doing some smaller $50 – $100 bonuses; the highest we’ve seen before was a targeted $200. And so I was surprised to see this offer popped up in my email inbox – at $300 I might go for it. If you’re targeted, keep in mind this will count toward your 5/24 count for future Chase applications.
Deal History:
Update 3/10/25: There’s now a public offer at this link for $200 back. Valid through March 21. Each month through December you make 10 or more purchases and earn $20 Bonus Daily Cash. Total will be $200 if you meet all the months from March through December.
Update 3/6/25: Another round was sent out for $300 bonus. Must apply by 3/31/25.
Update 12/12/24: Another round was sent out for $300 bonus with $1,500 spend. Must apply by 1/13/25.
Update 9/4/24: The $300 offer just expired. Apple is now sending out a new targeted $200 bonus which is broken down to ten $10 bonuses for each month you make 10+ purchases, through June 2025. Not as high offer and more annoying, but it will be easier for those who don’t have a lot of spend volume to get a $200 bonus by doing 10 tiny transactions at the vending machine or self checkout each month.
![[Targeted] Apple Card $200 Signup Bonus](https://globalinvestmentstrategy.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2024-08-15-at-11.50.37 AM-300x220.png "[Targeted] Apple Card $200 Signup Bonus")