Authorities in the United Arab Emirates briefly held two employees of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance in recent weeks as part of police investigations into possible financial wrongdoing linked to activity on the platform.
The workers were intercepted while passing through airports in the Emirates and have since been released, according to multiple accounts of the events.
One of those detained was a mid-level staff member traveling through Sharjah earlier this month.
Officers stopped the individual at the airport, transported him to a local police station, and kept him in custody overnight before allowing him to leave.
A second employee was similarly halted at another Emirati airport around the same period. Separately, a more senior figure who leads Binance’s Dubai operations was called in for questioning at a police facility in July.
All three individuals have been freed.
The precise nature of the inquiries remains unclear. Reports indicate that the actions stem from examinations of potential financial crimes involving funds that moved through Binance.
The exchange has long faced challenges in preventing its services—which enable rapid conversion of traditional money into digital assets and cross-border transfers—from being exploited by bad actors.
Law enforcement agencies around the world routinely contact the company about transactions on its platform, generating tens of thousands of requests each year.
In response, Binance has characterized the matter as routine.
A company representative stated that a limited number of staff members were asked to supply standard statements to local authorities concerning third-party fund movements through a client money account.
The exchange emphasized that its personnel were not the focus or subjects of the probes and that everyone who cooperated was quickly cleared and released.
In communications with Emirati officials, Binance further noted that the employees had been drawn into customer-related fraud cases and held no connection to any underlying offenses.
These developments carry particular weight because the UAE serves as a central regulatory and operational base for Binance.
The company has invested heavily in building a presence there, securing licenses and attracting significant local investment.
The detentions have reportedly unsettled parts of the workforce, highlighting the legal pressures the exchange continues to navigate even in a jurisdiction it has cultivated as a primary hub.Binance has previously encountered regulatory and law-enforcement scrutiny in multiple countries.
The latest episode underscores ongoing difficulties in policing the flow of funds on large crypto platforms, where the speed and borderless nature of transactions can complicate oversight.
Authorities in the Emirates have not issued public details about the specific transactions under review, the amounts involved, or whether any formal charges are anticipated against the exchange or its staff.
For its part, Binance has indicated it is working with Dubai Police and officials across other Emirates to clarify coordination procedures around institutional client accounts and cryptocurrency mechanics, which remain relatively new concepts in some legal systems.
No evidence has emerged suggesting the detained or questioned employees face ongoing legal jeopardy.
As first reported by the NYT, the situation illustrates the complex intersection of rapid technological innovation in digital assets and traditional financial crime enforcement. As crypto platforms expand their footprints in regions like the Middle East, interactions with local investigators are likely to remain a recurring feature of operations.
It’s home warranty insurance, though it’s often called something else. Common names include home building compensation, home indemnity insurance, and domestic building insurance.
It ensures homeowners aren’t left out of pocket if their builder fails to complete a project or rectify defects for certain reasons. Here’s how it works:
What is home warranty insurance?
In most states and territories, home warranty insurance protects you and your home build or renovation if your builder goes missing, dies, goes bust, or loses their licence. It’s usually taken out by the builder or contractor on behalf of the homeowner before the construction starts.
This insurance is required in most Australian states and territories for residential building projects over a certain cost. It typically provides coverage of non-complete (that is, the project isn’t finished) and defects for around six years or so following its completion. Exact rules, regulations, and insurance products vary between states and territories.
Before signing a contract, ask your builder for proof of coverage.
Key limitations of home warranty insurance
If your builder or contractor abandons the project but hasn’t died, disappeared, gone bankrupt, or lost their licence, home warranty insurance likely won’t cover you – except in Queensland. In such cases, pursuing legal action may be your best option to recover lost funds.
Who pays for home warranty insurance?
The builder or contractor engaged by a homeowner is typically responsible for getting and paying for home warranty insurance. As they’re running a business, builders can be expected to pass on the cost to homeowners, either directly or indirectly.
Only registered builders and contractors working on structural projects over the state-specific cost threshold generally need this insurance. Smaller renovations in which building works don’t meet thresholds may not require coverage – even if other costs (such as additional trades) push it over limits.
If home warranty insurance is needed, it normally needs to be taken out before a builder or contractor takes a deposit or starts work.
How much does home warranty insurance cost?
Just as home warranty insurance differs across the country, so too do its costs. However, it will likely depend on the value of the works a homeowner is agreeing to.
For instance, a $100,000 contract in Sydney might cost a builder around $1,000 to insure, while a similar renovation in Queensland could cost a little over $900 to cover.
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How does home warranty insurance differ between states and territories?
The rules for home warranty insurance vary across Australia. For instance:
In NSW and Victoria it’s known as Home Building Compensation Fund (NSW) or Domestic Building Insurance (Victoria) and is mandatory for projects over $20,000 (NSW) or $16,000 (VIC).
In Queensland it’s covered under the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) insurance scheme.
Other states and territories have similar schemes with varying thresholds and requirements.
NSW: Home Warranty Insurance
Builders and tradespeople in NSW must take out Home Building Compensation Fund (HBCF) cover on any home building project valued at $20,000 or more.
It protects homeowners in the event their builder or tradesperson dies, disappears, goes bust, or has their licence suspended.
It offers up to $340,000 of compensation for impacted homeowners.
Victoria: Domestic building insurance
Victoria demands building contractors take out domestic building insurance – previously called builders warranty insurance – for any works worth over $16,000.
The insurance covers up to $300,000 of costs a homeowner might face if their builder dies, disappears, or goes bust before works are complete or defects are addressed.
Queensland: Home Warranty Scheme
Queensland’s Home Warranty Scheme (QHWS) provides not-for-profit, regulatory financial protection and is administered by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission. Most residential building works worth more than $3,300 (inclusive of materials, labour, and GST) must be insured through the scheme.
Unlike similar insurance products in other states and territories, Queensland builders don’t need to die, disappear, or go bust for homeowners to access coverage.
Those signing a fixed price contract are covered if their contractor doesn’t, or can’t, finish the project. In some cases, if a homeowner’s claim is accepted and their home is later damaged by fire, storm, vandalism, or theft, related losses will also be covered. Homeowners agreeing to either a fixed price contract are also covered if their contractor doesn’t amend defects, or if their home is impacted by subsidence or settlement.
The Home Warranty Scheme pays a maximum of $200,000 or up to $300,000 if an owner takes out optional extra coverage. While there are different QHWS timeframes for reporting defects depending on whether it relates to structural or non-structural issues, the general rule is to report any defects within three months of noticing them even if you’re chasing a builder to rectify them.
South Australia: Building indemnity insurance
In South Australia, builders undergoing projects that both need development approval and cost $12,000 or more must pay for a building indemnity insurance policy in the homeowner’s name.
It protects the owner if their builder dies, disappears, or goes bust before finishing the works.
The insurance offers protection of up to $80,000 if issued before mid-2017 and up to $150,000 if issued since mid-2017.
Western Australia: Home indemnity insurance
Builders undergoing residential works worth more than $20,000 in Western Australia must take out home indemnity insurance on behalf of the homeowner.
The insurance protects the owner if their builder were to die, disappear, or go bust.
Insurance policies must provide up to $200,000 of cover for non-completion or statutory warranty and up to $40,000 for loss of deposit.
Tasmania: Home Warranty Insurance Scheme
The Tasmanian Government announced it will reinstate its Home Warranty Insurance Scheme in 2024, with the safety net expected to come into effect in mid-2025.
It proposes that building contractors would be required to take out the insurance product for every residential building contract worth more than $20,000.
“The Government’s Home Warranty Insurance scheme will provide important protections to ensure that homeowners are covered for loss caused by incomplete or defective building work should unforeseen circumstances occur, such as where their builder has died, disappeared or become insolvent,” Tasmanian minister for small business and consumer affairs Michael Ferguson said in August 2024.
ACT: Builders Warranty Insurance or Home Owners Warranty
Builders in the ACT must take out Builders Warranty Insurance – often called Home Owners Warranty – if a residential project requires building approval and costs at least $12,000.
It offers the homeowner up to $85,000 of coverage in the case that their builder dies, disappears, or goes bust.
Northern Territory: Residential building insurance
All builders in the Top End must be registered with a level of coverage through the Fidelity Fund NT each year and secure a certificate of coverage when working on new houses, units of up to three stories, and extensions worth more than $12,000.
The fund is administered by the Master Builders Association Northern Territory and provides up to $200,000 of coverage (no more than 20% of the project’s value) if a homeowner’s builder dies, disappears, becomes insolvent, or has their registration suspended or cancelled.
The cryptocurrency market, a relatively new asset class, is known to produce huge winners. Investors seeking high-profile opportunities will be drawn to this industry. However, it’s important to look at potential investments with an eye toward controlling risk.
Do you have $500 ready to put to work? As we look toward the rest of 2026, here’s one cryptocurrency to buy hand over fist.
Image source: Getty Images.
See the present clearly
Wise investors thinking about gaining exposure to digital assets should stick to the most established and proven name. This is Bitcoin(BTC -1.69%). It’s been around for almost two decades. It has unrivaled brand recognition and network effects. It’s not controlled by any single entity. And its market cap of $1.5 trillion, signaling deep liquidity, represents 59% of the overall cryptocurrency industry’s value.
Buying this digital asset hand over fist could prove to be an excellent financial move. That’s because Bitcoin is trading 41% off its peak (as of Aug. 22). Sentiment is extremely low, which theoretically increases the upside.
It’s difficult to pinpoint what’s causing the pressure. The investment community remains concerned about the quantum computing threat, and a higher-for-longer rate environment doesn’t bode well for risky assets.
There’s also intense competition for capital. The artificial intelligence trade, with companies at the center of this boom commanding market caps in the trillions, has attracted significant investor capital and attention.
However, Bitcoin’s current downturn is nothing new. The crypto’s volatile history follows a four-year cycle of bull-market tops and bear-market bottoms that correspond with the halving events. The last bear market ended in November 2022, which suggests the current bear market will end later in 2026.
It’s almost impossible to perfectly time your buying decisions so that the price of the crypto only rises after you get in. Therefore, it’s very likely that if you buy Bitcoin today, its price will fall even further.
If this prospect scares you, then it’s worth considering dollar-cost averaging. Instead of allocating the entire $500 in one upfront transaction, a better approach might be to break up the purchases. You could invest $100 into Bitcoin on a monthly basis for five months.
Today’s Change
(-1.69%) $-1,304.17
Current Price
$76,040.00
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$1.5TMarket cap calculated using publicly traded shares outstanding only. Does not include unlisted, private, or dual-class non-traded shares. Implied market cap may vary.
Day’s Range
$76585.00 – $77604.00
52wk Range
$57945.16 – $126079.89
Volume
29.7B
Focus on the future
Bitcoin is a long-term asset. Investors shouldn’t buy and sell with the intention of capturing a quick profit. Even though it’s been around since 2009, Bitcoin bulls believe its story is still in the early innings.
The clearest bull case is that Bitcoin continues on its path to becoming a more widely held store of value. As a decentralized, digital, and predictable monetary network, it is intended to challenge the current fiat-based monetary system. The digital asset’s most compelling feature is its fixed supply. Only 21 million units will ever be in circulation.
That makes Bitcoin attractive compared to fiat currencies with unlimited supply. What’s more, there is growing concern about the sustainability of sovereign debt levels. In the U.S., the federal debt has now exceeded $40 trillion. And there is no end in sight to the enormous borrowing and spending.
Bitcoin needs market participants with capital, whether they’re people, institutions, or governments, to allocate more of their savings to it. This has happened in the past, as the crypto’s price has skyrocketed 11,000% in the past 10 years.
While nothing is guaranteed, Bitcoin’s sizable upside could turn a $500 investment into much more over the next decade and beyond.
You’ve spent years building your investment portfolio. But what happens when it is time to actually live from it?
How does the money move from your investments into your bank account? Which account should the money come from? And how do you keep the whole system on track without trying to predict the market?
In this session, Alan and Katie will show you how to turn your Freedom Fund into money you can confidently use.
📋 WHAT WE’LL COVER
💳 MAKE YOUR MONEY SPENDABLE
Learn how investment money becomes cash, the difference between receiving investment income and selling units, how cash reaches your bank account, and how to choose a spending-cash target.
🚧 MONITOR YOUR PLAN WITH GUARDRAILS
Learn how to monitor your Current Burn Rate, recognise when the plan needs attention, and write simple guardrail rules for both difficult times and good outcomes.
🌍 CHOOSE WHERE THE MONEY COMES FROM
Explore how access, tax treatment, other income, allowances and changing income phases can affect your withdrawal choices.
This is a global session. It will help you understand the principles and identify the questions to consider wherever you live. Tax and account rules vary, so you will need to investigate the rules for your country and circumstances.
⚖️ REBALANCE THE WHOLE SYSTEM
Learn how to:
• Refill your spending cash
• Review your Freedom Fund
• Restore your chosen investment split
• Decide what may need to be sold
• Add practical drawdown, guardrail and rebalancing rules to your Investor Policy Statement
🗓️ BUILD YOUR OPERATING ROUTINE
By the end of the session, you’ll understand how the different parts work together:
Create cash. Move it to the bank. Spend it. Monitor the plan. Refill and rebalance.
You are not destroying your Freedom Fund. You are operating it to support the life it was built for.
🍍 REBEL FINANCE SCHOOL
This session accompanies the free 10-week Rebel Finance School course. Sign up for the notes, spreadsheets and bonus material:
Join the Facebook group for friendly support from like-minded people:
LINKS
Google form Investor Policy Statement (IPS) template:
IPS workshop with Bob:
Submit your questions for the ask us anything session:
Listen to the graduation song:
2026 Rebel Graduation survey and certificate:
UK specific session: drawdown demystified
Mastering spreadsheets and numbers:
RFS content in Spanish
The Rebel family
Rebel Business School:
Rebel Entrepreneur podcast:
Extraordinary life course:
⚠️ DISCLAIMER
We are not financial advisers 💼 This is not financial advice 💰 We are not regulated or trained financial advisers 🎓 We will never try to sell you any investments 🛍️ You make your own decisions 💭 We are sharing our opinions and ideas 💡 These ideas may not continue to work for us or for you. You are 100% responsible for your financial future 💸 There are no guarantees here.
A coalition of higher education associations and labor unions is asking a federal judge to throw out the Trump administration’s rule ending “duration of status” for international students, exchange visitors and foreign journalists. The case (Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration v. Department of Homeland Security, No. 1:26-cv-13799) was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and posted publicly by the Presidents’ Alliance.
It comes less than a month before the rule is set to take effect, along with 30 senators asking the State Department to clear a student visa backlog before fall classes start.
Plaintiffs are the Presidents’ Alliance, which represents close to 600 colleges and universities; NAFSA: Association of International Educators; the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts; the American Federation of Teachers; Brown University’s graduate worker union; The NewsGuild-CWA; the United Auto Workers; and UAW Local 2322, which represents graduate workers at UMass Amherst and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. No individual students are named.
Defendants are DHS, ICE, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and acting ICE Director David Venturella. It is the second union-led challenge to the administration’s education agenda this year, after the teachers union suit over $2 billion in blocked education research money.
Why It Matters
“Duration of Status” has set the terms for how long foreign students can stay in the United States for more than four decades. A student admitted under it stays as long as they remain enrolled and follow the conditions of the visa, with no departure date printed on the I-94.
The replacement of requiring DHS to verify term lengths and more adds more burden to USCIS, an agency the complaint says is already carrying an 11.3 million case backlog.
The money at stake is not abstract for colleges. International graduate enrollment has already fallen far enough to trigger layoffs and program cuts in 2026, and full-pay foreign students have long subsidized seats for domestic ones — one of the forces behind what colleges charge everyone else.
The Details
Published July 17 and effective September 15, the rule admits F, J and I nonimmigrants for a set period, according to DHS’s own summary of the final rule. The specifics, as international student offices have summarized them:
Admission runs for the shorter of the program end date on Form I-20 or DS-2019, or four years, plus a 30-day grace period.
Extensions require Form I-539 with USCIS, at a filing fee of $420 or more, decided at the agency’s discretion.
Graduate students are blocked from changing academic programs; undergraduate transfers and program changes face new limits.
Any student who completes a degree is barred from starting another at the same or a lower level — a permanent bar, the complaint says, that cannot be reset by leaving and seeking readmission.
The post-completion grace period for F-1 students drops from 60 days to 30. Foreign journalists on I visas would file extensions every 240 days.
Students admitted before September 15 generally continue under the current system until they travel abroad, file an extension, or hit transition deadlines in the fall of 2030.
The complaint brings three counts under the Administrative Procedure Act. DHS conceded at least $443 million a year in compliance costs while attaching no number to the benefits and declining to quantify the enrollment decline the rule would cause. DHS allowed 32 days of public comment on a rewrite of three visa categories, then took close to a year to issue the final version, against Executive Order 12866’s request for at least 60 days on significant rules.
And the coalition argues DHS invented a category of inadmissibility that appears nowhere in the Immigration and Nationality Act, since a student pursuing a second master’s still meets every statutory test for an F visa. That last claim matters for a population that already navigates a separate financing system, from private lenders to refinancing an international student loan.
By The Numbers
More than 1.8 million F-1 and 514,000 J-1 nonimmigrants were in the country in 2024, and NAFSA puts their contribution at $42.9 billion and roughly 355,000 jobs in 2024-25. DHS logged about 22,000 public comments.
The agency’s central evidence was roughly 2,100 people who entered as F-1 students between 2000 and 2010 and remained in F-1 status as of April 2025 — about 0.1% of the 1.6 million SEVIS records it reviewed.
Its overstay figure for F, M and J visa holders in fiscal 2023 was 2.84%, a number that counts unverified departures alongside actual overstays. A NAFSA survey cited in the filing found 49% of current international students would not have enrolled under a fixed admission period, and the Association of American Universities projected a 163% jump in USCIS filings.
The Other Side
DHS frames fixed terms as a fraud and national security measure, giving officers set points to verify that someone still qualifies for the status they hold. Simon Hankinson of the Heritage Foundation (the same organization behind the model state law for Trump’s higher education compact) told NPR the effect “is not going to be huge” and that the government gains better oversight of the foreign student population.
A near-identical proposal appeared in 2020 and was withdrawn in 2021.
How This Connects
The rule sits on top of a financing squeeze already reshaping graduate programs. Federal caps took effect this year, and private student loan volume is projected to climb as much as 85% as borrowers cover the gap.
International students cannot access federal loans at all, so a four-year admission ceiling on a six-year Ph.D. is a financing question as much as an immigration one.
The coalition wants the rule stayed before September 15 and has signaled it will seek a preliminary injunction. Watch whether other plaintiffs (state attorneys general filed comments opposing the rule) bring parallel suits. If no judge intervenes, colleges have roughly three weeks to prepare advisers and student information systems for a filing process none of them have run at scale.
Editor: Colin Graves
The post Colleges And Unions Sue To Block The New Four-Year Cap On Student Visas appeared first on The College Investor.
Chinese humanoid robots broke records set by humans, including beating Usain Bolt’s 100-meter sprint world record, on the opening day of the Olympics-like World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Saturday.
More than 2,000 humanoid robots were participating in the event, the organizer said.
The five-day games, now in its second year, are a spectacle demonstrating China’s rapid progress in advanced robotics as the technology race with the U.S. heats up, with 51 events and more than 1,000 competitions taking place including running, table tennis and soccer.
The games, which are taking place in the National Speed Skating Oval built for the 2022 Winter Olympics, opened the same week as Beijing held the 2026 World Robot Conference, where companies showcased around 3,000 products, including humanoid robots.
China makes the majority of the world’s humanoid robots. The U.S. has stepped up scrutiny of robots from the country.
Last month, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced a ban on imports of new foreign-made humanoid robots. The FCC cited national security reasons in a move that targeted China. The Pentagon recently also added Unitree, one of China’s leading humanoid robot makers, to its list of companies that it deemed have ties with the Chinese military. Beijing has hit back at the accusations.
At Saturday’s opening of the robot games, the organizer and robot makers said that Chinese humanoid robots defeated human world records, as hundreds of humanoid robots marched in formation onto the field in a massive display of synchronized coordination.
At a 100-meter sprint, a humanoid robot achieved a result of 9.39 seconds, beating the human record of 9.58 seconds set by Jamaican athlete Bolt in 2009.
In a standing high jump, a humanoid robot was able to reach 2.88 meters, well above the 0.95 meters best result by a humanoid in last year’s first edition of the games. It surpassed the human high jump record of 2.45 meters set by Cuba’s Javier Sotomayor in 1993.
Both robots were from Beijing-based X-Humanoid.
Before the opening, a humanoid robot from Chinese smartphone company Honor completed a 100-meter sprint in a record of 9.32 seconds during a trial of the games, the company said, at a peak speed of 14.5 meters per second.
Still, experts say humanoid robots are still mostly used for demonstrations, performances and research — at least for now — and it will still take time to achieve mass real-world deployment.
Some spectators at the robot games said they were excited about the humanoid robots’ quickly improving abilities.
Humanoid robots are “evolving rapidly,” said Li Yanfeng, an education worker and a Beijing resident.
“At first, I wasn’t very accepting of artificial intelligence. I was even a bit resistant to it, because of the possibility that it might replace or displace humans,” she said. “But now that I see this development is unstoppable, I decided to come and take a look.”
“These sports are perfectly normal for humans, but now robots can do them. I find it amazing,” said Yang Shangzheng, another spectator.
Liu Tao, who was watching the games with his son, said that he was hoping to see “the best robots China currently has to offer.”
This year’s robot games — which the organizer said has 16 countries participating, among them Germany, Japan and the U.S. — also include other events such as weightlifting and tug of war.
Bilt has added Blacklane to its travel ecosystem, letting members book premium chauffeur service through the Bilt Concierge or Bilt Travel Portal.
Members earn 1X Bilt Points on eligible Blacklane rides booked through Bilt, on top of rewards from the linked card used to pay. Rides can be paid with Bilt Points, a linked card, Bilt Cash, or a combination.
Blacklane Credits
Members can use Bilt Cash for an annual Blacklane credit based on status:
Platinum: Up to $150
Gold: Up to $100
Silver: Up to $50
Blue: Up to $50
Credits reset each calendar year.
Blacklane offers airport transfers, city-to-city rides and hourly chauffeur service in more than 60 countries.
How to Book Blacklane with Bilt
Open the Bilt Concierge or Travel Portal and go to the Rewards tab
Book your ride under the ‘Car Service’ option, and choose Bilt Points, any linked card, your Bilt Cash credit (or any combination of these) at checkout
Earn 1X Bilt Points automatically on your journey
Redeem Bilt Cash once a year for your Blacklane credit based on your status (runs January 1–December 31, resets annually)
Guru’s Wrap-Up
This is a useful new travel perk for Bilt members who already use premium car services. The 1X Bilt earning stacks with credit-card rewards, while the annual Blacklane credit adds another option for using Bilt Cash.
The Trump administration dismissed a dozen senior staff from mortgage giant Fannie Mae this week, according to an official familiar with the matter, the latest move in a push to remake the lender.
Processing Content
The 12 positions were eliminated Wednesday, according to the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe the action. Some of the jobs were eliminated due to the increasing capability of artificial intelligence and the departures were all involuntary, the official said.
It wasn’t immediately clear which positions were affected and whether the changes represented a shift in strategy for the mortgage agency. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and its counterpart, Freddie Mac, didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. The departures were reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal.
FHFA is led by Bill Pulte, a construction heir and Trump loyalist who briefly served as the acting director of national intelligence earlier this year after DNI chief Tulsi Gabbard announced her departure. Pulte used his time in the role to shrink the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, partly through firings.
Trump has long mused about a public offering of shares in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, though it’s not clear yet whether he will proceed. He said in June that it was still under consideration but that there was no rush.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is hiring a trader to build and lead a natural gas trading team to support the space flight company’s growing fuel and power needs.
Job postings for the role, which “focuses on physical and financial natural gas trading,” further underscores the importance of the power-plant and manufacturing fuel to support the company’s ambitions in chipmaking and space exploration.
SpaceX earlier this month said it plans to build its own gas-fired power plants to support the electricity requirements of the massive semiconductor manufacturing facility it’s developing in Texas with Tesla Inc. Surging power demand from data centers and new factories has driven demand for new gas plants, and Musk has long been a fan of vertical integration.
Read More: SpaceX to Build Natural Gas Power Plants for Texas Chip Factory
SpaceX also plans to build its own gas pipelines, and is even looking to drill for natural gas, the company’s president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell told CNBC in June. These represent “huge investments to develop our own propellant and bring it to the rocket,” she said.
SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket uses super-chilled methane — the primary ingredient in natural gas — combined with liquid oxygen as propellant.
Other prominent technology companies, including Meta and OpenAI, have recently indicated plans to foray into power trading as their energy needs expand.
Read More: OpenAI Is Hiring a Power-Trading Lead for Data Center Portfolio
Postings for the SpaceX gas trading role say that it is either based in Cape Canaveral, Florida, or Starbase, Texas — not the traditional gas-trading hubs of Houston, Calgary or Stamford, Connecticut. Remote work won’t be considered, the postings say.
SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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