The Best One Yet - 🏰 "Kingdom of the Coin" — Bhutan's Bitcoin Bump. Love Island's economy. Delta's Super Business Class+

Episode Date: July 14, 2025

Love Island is the most viral show of the year… and it’s having a global economic impact.Delta only makes $4 profit per ticket… so it’s launching new premium classes (Super Biz Class+)Bitcoin hit a fresh record high of $118K… but the biggest winner is the little Kingdom of Bhutan.Plus, the best part of a TBOY Live Show… in ChicagoGet tickets here: https://www.axs.com/events/949346/the-best-one-yet-podcast-tickets$BTC $PARA $DALWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… The Frisbee 🥏Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.TBOY Live Show Tickets to Chicago on sale NOW: https://www.axs.com/events/949346/the-best-one-yet-podcast-ticketsAbout Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, TBOY Lite is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts NEWSLETTER:https://tboypod.com/newsletter SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Our 2nd show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, July 14th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-Boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. All right. He's not going to give Jack some credit here. He just got off a six-hour electric car drive. We drove with the family down to the south coast of Massachusetts, just outside Boston. It's actually South Dartmouth. But yeah, dude, six-hour drive from Burlington, Vermont. And Jack, I just got off a plane. that was six hours long, the longest continuous flight within the United States.

Oh yeah, Boston to San Francisco. Yeah, Boston, San Francisco. It is six hours, 11 minutes without a kid. It's nine hours, 11 minutes if you do have a kid. Well, dude, I prepped this pod in that car with three boys in the backseat. It was not easy. Let's say I'm glad I had my noise-canceling headphones. Gotta love self-driving mode.

Yeah, these stocks fell last week. They're probably going to fall today, too. Oh, yeah. Trump announced big tariffs on our biggest trading partners, starting August 1st. More on that in a minute. But in the meantime, Jack, we got three fantastic stories for today's pod. What do we got on the T-Boy? For our first story, Love Island season seven finale was last night. It's been so popular, people watch at bars like it's the Super Bowl. Because like the Super Bowl, Love Island is a live sport. And that is the greatest asset in media.

For our second story, get this. On every seat they sell, airlines only make $4 of profit. So Delta has a new plan. Delta is launching super business class plus a first class section within the first class section. And our third and final story, Bitcoin hit a record high price of $118,000 on Friday. Which makes the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan the happiest place on Earth. But Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. No one else is doing that mix. Love the mix of stories today, Jack. Chicago. Yes. The capital of the Midwest, it's the venue of our T-Based. It's the venue of our T-Based. boy live show next week. Now, Basties, we've told you the date, the venue, and

the run of the show. Reminder, it's July 23rd at the Vic in Chicago, and it's basically this show times like five. Plus, our guest is the CEO of the coolest new electric car company. Slate Auto, the Jeff Bezos-backed EV company that's taking on Elon Musk. And she will be

our guest live on stage. But in addition to us doing a live performance, three stories, an interview, and a T-Boy earnings report, Jack, we should tell the Yetis our favorite part about the live. show. We meet each and everyone who comes to the show. We meet everybody. We literally stay on stage after the show until we meet everyone who wants to meet us. I mean, Jack, last time we were in New York, we got to meet hundreds of Vietis. We stayed for like two hours. I think it was like 10.30 p.m.

We left the venue. The staff gets a little annoyed with us. Yeah, we did. We think it's worth it because you are our favorite people. Honestly, Bessies, we will be there as long as we have to, to get to hear from you, what you do, what you love doing, where you're from. We want to get to know it. Because we spend so much time with you through this podcast, we finally want to meet you in real life. And here's the funny thing about Jack and I being podcasters. As a host, it's just us talking into two mics with each other. We feel like we're friends with you, but we never get to hear from you. So come to our show, our live show in Chicago.

Come hang out. It is a wonderfully rewarding experience for everyone. Nick and I are going to be on stage in front of you all, pouring our hearts and souls out in our most entertaining possible show. We promised to stay until we met each and every one of you. We still got tickets for the last second Sandy's out there. So check out the link in the episode description. Check out that link. Grab your tickets.

And Jack, what do you say we hit our three stories? Let's hit our three stories. Let's hit them, baby. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm. Jack, 50%. That's a fat tip.

Tea Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we've read. to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, Love Island season seven ended last night, and it was so popular, bars were hosting watch parties. The economy got a boost, and it's got the number one app in entertainment. Love Island proves once again the financial power of live sports. That's right, we called Love Island a sport. But Jack, let's talk numbers here.

Here, 24-7 filming, 70 cameras, 20-something singles with 12-pack abs and about 4,000 raging hormones. And they're stuck on an island in Fiji. There's nothing to do but hook up. For six more weeks, everything's on camera, everyone's on camera, except for the bathroom. Love Island. It's Lord of the Flies meets The Bachelor with more memes than a Bravo show. You get paired up on day one. You recouple throughout the show, and then the singles get booted off. You have to couple up, or else you're out of the show. If you survive, though, you could win $100,000.

Now, this show started in the UK in 2015, and it literally boosted the United Kingdom's economy. One plastic surgeon told The Sun that the number of tweakments they perform is up 31% because of Love Island. Yeah, you want Botox like Kyra. It's understandable. Now, there's three keys to Love Island's FOMO. First, it's basically live. They produce episodes every day, and they publish the day after. Second, unlike most reality shows, the new episodes drop daily on weekdays. And finally, fans get to vote on who. wins. More on that in a bit because that's a key growth hack. And the finale was last night. Did Sierra get

snubbed? Was Hannah deserving Pepe? And will we all miss Miguel's pancakes? Trick question. Of course, the answer is yes. But besties, seven years ago, Love Island came to the United States. And season seven is causing a surprise boom across our economy too. First of all, for Peacock, which owns this show, this was a breakout season. Yeah, searches for Love Island on Roku tripled this season. And 39% of viewers are new. That's key. But bigger than that corporate boost for Peacock is the cultural boost for our economy. Because Love Island watch parties have been taken over neighborhoods. One set, Jack, can you guys keep it down over there? 400 Love Island faithful are squeezing into a local bar to watch it live together. CNBC spoke with half a dozen bar owners whose patrons treat Love Island like

the Super Bowl. Because the numbers are as big as the Super Bowl. We're talking a 5x jump in business on weekdays for these bars. Bars across the country that host Love Island viewing shows are breaking records for the month of June, like best month of June ever for these bars. And here's what Jack and I find fascinating. There's also an interesting gender twist here too. Traditionally, it's guys who pack bars on Sunday to watch football together. But with last night's season finale of Love Island, women were filling those same bars. Sports bars became vibe bars. And vibe bars became profit puppies. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone curious about Love Island. Love Island proves that live

sports are the most valuable media. Now, yeties, Jack and I have told you that live sports are the holy grail of streaming. They're the only thing that our entire nation watches together. That's why Amazon and Netflix have splurged billions to acquire the rights to NFL games. So we don't see Love Island as just a reality show. We see it as a competition that is basically taped live. It is a live sports show. And like the latest NFL game, you watch it live on television, then you chat about it the next

morning in the office, and then you share clips on social media with your buddies about it all week. Because I'm a mommy. Jack's a mommy Sita. Maybe we're both mommies. But unlike sports, the viewers get to select the winners. And Nick, the Love Island app is number one in the

entertainment category in the app store right now ahead of TikTok. That's their growth hack. They're cross-platform. top app and entertainment, they're beating Netflix and Peacock's apps. And it's all created a fomo effect as strong as the Super Bowl. Because besties, add it all up, and Love Island is a sport. And it proves that live competition is truly media's holy grail. For our second story, Bitcoin just hit a record high price of $118,000. And the big winner is the tiny kingdom of Bhutan. One reason why? More investors companies, and even countries are going all in. Like Bhutan, the surprise capital of crypto.

Yeti's deep in the Himalayan mountains, between China and India, lies a mountainous kingdom nestled in the countryside. Bouton. It's a Buddhist nation of monks, villagers, and climbers. There are no traffic lights. There's not a single McDonald's. And climbing is the number one recreation. DoorDash isn't going to work there. To sprinkle on some more context, you've got 800,000 people in Bhutan. Which is a tad larger than Vermont. And it's only 14,000 square miles. Which is a tad larger than Switzerland. However, poor tiny Bhutan actually owns more Bitcoin than any European nation. It's the third largest government holder of Bitcoin. Besties, Bhutan hasn't confirmed this, but is believed to own $1.5 billion of Bitcoin. That's according to the Wall Street

Journal, and that would be half of the country's GDP. So Jack, and I had to jump in, DeBois style here. How did Bhutan, little Bhutan, get so Bitcoin rich? It's natural geography. That's how. Get this, Yeti's. Bhutan. It is the first country to mine all of its Bitcoin. It's using Mother Earth. It is homemade Bitcoin Jack. Now, we should sprinkle on some context. A few years ago, El Salvador famously adopted Bitcoin as their legal currency. They had big plans to become the Bitcoin capital of the world. They were going to use their volcanoes. Oh yeah, the volcano was excited about that. man the lava. But they haven't followed through. And the U.S. government has a big Bitcoin holding,

but that's mostly from buying it in the market or seizing it from criminal activity. Bhutan has mined all of its Bitcoin. That's the key. And it sells its holdings to pay its civil servants. Now, quick reminder yeties, but Bitcoin is a scarce digital currency that lives on the blockchain and it must be mined in order for new ones to exist. The number of Bitcoin is capped at 21 million and a million are still left to be mined. But mining, but mining requires supercomputers to solve complex problems, which requires giant amounts of electricity. Well, funny thing you should say giant amounts of electricity, Jack, because Bhutan's nickname, I believe, is the Thunder Dragon. Because thunderstorms flood their valleys. And that flooding becomes

hydropower. So Bhutan uses that excess electricity to mine Bitcoin. And it's so cold in Bhutan, it naturally cools the supercomputers from overheating. The results, Bhutan has transformed its excess electricity into $1.5 billion a homegrown Bitcoin. We're talking 100,000 coins. And they periodically sell their Bitcoin to fund their government. Basically, instead of taxes, they just use their Bitcoin that they mine themselves with their hydroelectricity from their Thunder Dragon. They're harvesting it, like a natural resource. It's like if Idaho use their potatoes as a currency, Bhutan has its Bitcoin. Yeah, Iowa uses its wind to create revenue through electricity?

Yes. Bhutan uses its rain to generate electricity in Bitcoin. By the way, do you know what the head of state in Bhutan is known as? What's their name? Jack. Official title, Dragon King. I'm not kidding. The Dragon King.

I mean, at that point, George R.R. Martin owes them a lot of royalties. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our Bitcoin-loving buddies over in Bhutan? And anyone curious about Bitcoin. One reason that Bitcoin keeps rising is instituted. going all in. Yeties, you can never really be sure why Bitcoin prices are going up and down. You could say it's inflation, trade war.

Honestly, it could be so many things. Could be correlation with the stock market too. Totally, totally. But rising prices means there's more buyers than sellers. And you know what we've seen a lot of lately? Talk to me, Jeff. Large institutions going all in on Bitcoin. For example, on the government side,

you have El Salvador and Bhutan, which continue to buy Bitcoin. They've gone all in on buying Bitcoin. On the corporate side, you got Mike. Micro Strategy and GameStop, they've pivoted from software and retail to buying Bitcoin. And of course, you've got many retail investors who have gone all in, betting on Bitcoin as the best chance of getting rich the fastest. Bitcoin has made many people rich. Many people have lost money too. But each time there's a new Bitcoin all-time high, it tempts another institution to put all their assets into Bitcoin. So the one reason we think Bitcoin keeps rising right now, institutions going all in. Now a quick word from our sponsor.

For our third and final story. According to new data, U.S. Airlines make just $4 a profit on a $400 ticket. And that explains why Delta Airlines is adding a premium section to the already premium section. Jack and I call this Super Business Class Plus. Super Business Class Plus. Some shocking information we should sprinkle on for you here. 18.5 million passengers flew through American airports over the 4th of July weekend. The average fare, $400. The average profit on that ticket? Just $4.

Okay, Jack, am I wrong with that? Is that just a 1% profit margin? It is. Despite the relatively low competition of airlines, the big four control 80% of the industry. It has always been tough to make profits in airlines. Airplanes, not a profit puppy. And the reason the airline industry is so tough, you got expensive airplanes and volatile fuel prices. Plus, the FAA is understaffed, our airports are outdated, and there's pilot and flight crew unions you have to deal with. Plus, the person in 16B has got a peanut allergy, and the person in 16A is mad about having that peanut allergy. Flights are basically like just babysitting for 234 souls on board.

What do you mean I can't open a Reese's? I have brought a Reese's Jack. But the $4 of profit per ticket, it hides the real profit puppy of airlines, which is upcharges. Ah, the upcharges, they are everywhere, besties. Checked bags, seat upgrades, early boarding privileges, in-flight Wi-Fi. The privilege to merely select your seat is now an upcharge. You wanted a Biskopf cookie? We're going to have to see your credit card, please. All of those things we just mentioned have zero associated costs, so every dollar spent by flyers is pure profit for the airline.

So, Yeties, that's why Jack and I were not shocked when Delta announced that last quarter, they earned a $2 billion profit, and the stock jumped 11%. The $400 ticket you selected becomes $600. $150 by the time you reach the checkout. But besties, here's the part that did shock us. Delta is reportedly launching business class plus. Business class super premium extra plus. Delta is working on building a even more first class section within the existing first class section.

What does super business class plus look like? Well, according to CNBC reporting, they're going to have business class seats with an extra spot for a visitor to come sit down in your ticketed section. Okay, so here's I'm picturing it, Jack. It's like your boss gets the business class super premium plus ticket, which is like a fully reclining luxury, you know, recliner seat. But you are allowed to join them for part of the flights. You can like prepare for a big meeting or something and then you go back to your seat. Yeah, there's like a little bench for your analyst to come and sit down and like brief you on your next meeting. Come sit in my lap and have a cookie. There's also something called a retreat suite the airlines are working on, which is

is an enclosed private cabin with space for four people to eat dinner together on the airplane. You could have your whole family and business class together, but like you wouldn't have to be worrying about anyone else. Or you could have a business meeting 35,000 feet up and like provide a PowerPoint presentation on a projector screen, potentially. As one executive put it pasties, we already segmented economy class. The next opportunity is segmenting business class. Side note, we should mention Delta also makes a billion dollars per quarter from their American Express credit card. In the meantime, one second, Jack, excuse me, we're sitting in the retreat suites. I ordered this chardonnay slightly chilled.

Dude, you can have a yoga flow class on the airplane in the retreat suite. Jack, stick a peloton in there. So what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the airline industry? Segmenting is how you snag maximum profits. Yeties, economists talk about the upper, middle, and lower class of America. But airline executives, they demand way more than just three classes. Oh, they want a million classes. Yeah.

They got like 12 classes. That's why the gate agent reads through 12 different boarding zones. Because the average American may be willing to pay $400 for a flight. But there are several classes of flyers willing to pay various amounts more than that. And airlines want to capture each willingness to pay tier, so they create 12 tiers worth of tickets. That is why the main cabinet Delta only contributes to... just 37% to the company's revenue. The other two-thirds of revenue are from fees, credit card points, premium offerings like

business class plus. Because Bestie's segmenting customers is how to snag maximum profits. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Love Island was so popular. It got bar viewing parties and their app is ahead of TikTok and Netflix in the app store. It's an economic boost. Love Island proves that live sports are the most that. valuable media. For our second story, Bhutan is the third largest government holder of Bitcoin.

They mine it, sell it, and fund their government with it. And one reason that Bitcoin's up, more institutions go in all in. And our third and final story, because a regular ticket only makes $4 a profit, Delta is reportedly working on super business class plus. Super business class plus. Because segmenting customers, that's how you maximize profits. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, why did stocks fall last week? Because President Trump went full maximalist on tariffs. First, he announced 50% tariffs on copper and 200% tariffs on pharmaceuticals and 50% tariffs on Brazil.

Okay, and then on Friday, he announced 35% tariffs on Canada beginning on August 1st. And then on Saturday, he announced 30% tariffs on the European Union and Mexico starting August 1st. At this point, it is just getting hard for investors to ignore the trade war. You can't just shrug it off and think it's not real. Second, the next battle in the AI Wars is over your internet browsing, literally. Get this, perplexity just launched a web browser fueled by AI called Comet. And OpenAI is reportedly about to launch its own web browser this week or next week. That's right, the biggest moves yet to attack Google search are the AI browser.

And finally, last week we told you that the original Birken bag made for Jane Birken herself was up for auction. Do we have a number, Jack? We got a final sale? It's sold for $10 million. No, we got to point out, Jack. The previous handbag record was $450,000 for the Himalayan crocodile Arameh's Birken handbag. To be clear, there's no crocodiles living in the Amalayan mountains. No, just Bitcoin. But they bleached the crocodile, I think, to make it look snowy in Himalayan. But last week, Sotheby sold the first ever Berkin, like the first Burkin ever made, for 10 million bucks. It's the most expensive handbag of all time. beating the previous record by more than 20x.

So now you know what to get me for my birthday, Jack. Now, time for the best fact yet, which, because it's Monday, means T-Boy trivia. What do we got, Jack? The Michelin Star is the ultimate rating system in the world. The Michelin Star, it awards the world's top restaurants with a one, two, or three stars. And the most expensive three-star Michelin restaurant in the world costs $2,130 per person. Sit down, stand up, and yes, we'll have another again. Yet he's one meal, 12 courses, over $2,000. So here's our trivia. In what city is that $2,000 per person restaurant? Okay, is that restaurant in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Singapore, or Dubai?

Bonus points if you know the name of the restaurant. Hint, they're famous for their crab. What city is the home of the $2,000 per plate restaurant? Paris, New York, Tokyo, Singapore. Singapore or Dubai. Bonus bonus points if you've dined there. It's a write-off. Yeties, you look fantastic to kick off the week. Jack, you are glowing as the Dragon King himself. I just want to go to the beach, so I'm really glowing with some sun. Yetties, Jack and I can't wait to see at the live show. Literally, we can't wait to meet you at our live show. And we have more tickets available, so check out the link in the episode description. Grab those tickets and Jack and I. We'll see you tomorrow. for T-Boy Tuesday.

And before we go, a happy 27th birthday to Yeti, Jenna Marshall down in Tampa, who's celebrating at Disney World and just closed on our house. Happy birthday to Owen and Evan Klein. Twins turning nine years old in Dallas, Texas. Happy birthday, happy birthday. And Joe Teal down in Scrant in Pennsylvania is tall, extremely built, and the future anesthesiologist is one year older.

And happy birthday to Jing Chu in Sunnyvale, California, who's also celebrating a new job and a law for. Legal and a belated happy birthday to the legendary bestie Kelsey Black, down in lovely Austin, Texas. Who in our humble opinion owns the best bookstore in the Lone Star State. We voted for it. And Tommy, the Yeti I ran into on the flight to San Francisco, he caught it just in the nick of time, Jack. This is a Yeti who can sprint. And finally, to all of our French Yetis out there, happy Bastille Day.

They said storming the Bastille was not possible, but it was possible. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Netflix, and Nick and I both own stock of Peloton as well as some Bitcoin. The Bitcoin's name Ben.