At Mobee, the movement is immediately visible in USO, a token that tracks oil prices. Its price is around Rp2,791,707, or equivalent to approximately US$158, practically hitting its highest level in the last 52 weeks.
This article covers two things: what the USO instrument actually is and what you need to understand before taking a position in it, followed by six channels through which rising oil prices have an impact that reaches far beyond the energy sector, from United States inflation to fuel prices in Indonesia.
Key Takeaways
- The USO token on Mobee is around US$158, practically at the peak of its 52-week range, which spans from US$65.99 to US$158.88.
- Its price is above the last closing price of its ETF on the US exchange of US$154.90, because this token trades 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, and has already accounted for the surge in oil that occurred while the New York exchange was closed.
- WTI is at US$103.20 per barrel, up 22.14% in 30 days and 63.04% over the year, triggered by supply disruptions rather than a surge in demand.
- USO does not hold physical oil, but rather WTI futures contracts that are rolled over each month, so its performance may differ from the spot price of oil.
- The rise in oil spreads through six different channels, from US inflation and Fed interest rates to the Indonesian state budget, Pertamax prices, and crypto miner margins.
USO on Mobee: What Exactly Is This Instrument
USO stands for United States Oil Tokenized Fund (Ondo). This is not an ordinary crypto token, but a tokenized representation of the United States Oil Fund, an exchange-traded fund designed to track crude oil prices that has been operating on US exchanges since 2006.
Current data:
How it is structured. Each USO token is backed by shares of the United States Oil Fund held in custody, issued by Ondo Global Markets through a mint-and-redeem mechanism, so the value on the blockchain reflects the assets held off-chain. On Mobee, it can be purchased directly with rupiah in small fractions, without needing to convert to dollars first or open a brokerage account in the United States.
Why Mobee Prices Can Be Higher Than US Market Closing Prices
This is a natural question to ask when comparing figures, and the answer actually explains the core utility of the tokenized version.
US stock markets close on weekends, while oil prices never stop moving. Drone attacks on Saudi Arabian facilities and the closure of the East-West pipeline occurred leading up to and over the weekend, causing WTI to surge 3.15% on Monday. The USO token, which trades 24/5, had already accounted for that movement, whereas the ETF's closing price on the exchange still reflected the final trading session before the surge.
In other words, the visible difference is a time gap, not a value gap.
For investors in the Indonesian time zone, this has real practical consequences. Geopolitical events in the Middle East often occur while New York is closed, and with conventional instruments, positions can only be adjusted after the opening bell. With the tokenized version, that delay is eliminated.
Three Things You Must Understand Before Buying USO
This section is important and often overlooked, yet it determines whether this instrument is suitable for an individual's goals.
First, USO does not hold physical oil.
The fund holds WTI oil futures contracts on the NYMEX, with an allocation of approximately 80% in the near-month contract and 20% in the following month's contract, rolling them over as they approach maturity. Therefore, it tracks the price of futures contracts, not the spot price of oil directly.
Second, the contract rollover process can either enhance or detract from performance, depending on the shape of the curve.
When longer-dated contracts are more expensive than near-term contracts—a condition known as contango—each contract rollover means selling at a lower price and buying at a higher one. This erodes performance. WTI spent most of the last decade in contango, and the result is measurable: over the last 10 years, USO has significantly lagged behind the price gains of spot WTI itself.
However, in the opposite condition, known as backwardation, where near-term contracts are more expensive, the rollover process provides an additional benefit. That is what has happened recently. Over the past year, the USO ETF recorded a return of 107.34% including distributions, while the price of WTI itself rose 63.04%. That difference stems from a combination of rollover dynamics and the yield on the cash collateral held by the fund, which has been bolstered by high interest rates.
The practical conclusion: do not assume this instrument is automatically detrimental in the long term, but do not assume it is automatically profitable either. What determines the outcome is the shape of the futures curve during the period you hold it, and that can change.
Third, its position at the top of a one-year range does not mean it is at an all-time high.
This needs to be clarified to avoid misinterpretation. USO has indeed touched its highest level in the last 52 weeks. However, the fund has been operating since April 2006, and its average annual return since inception is -5.98%, meaning its position is still far below its historical peak. This characteristic is consistent with the nature of futures-based instruments explained in the second point, confirming that USO is better suited for tactical, monitored positions rather than passive long-term holdings.
A note on liquidity. The underlying USO ETF is a large, liquid instrument with $2.12 billion in assets under management. However, its tokenized version is much smaller, meaning the bid-ask spread may be wider than for assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum, and large orders are more susceptible to slippage. Using limit orders, rather than market orders, is therefore more relevant for assets like this. The types of orders and how they work are discussed in trading orders. Also, check the order book depth and current prices directly on the pair's page before trading.
Why Oil Prices Are Rising Now
Once you understand the instruments, the next step is to understand what drives them.
What is driving this current rise is supply disruption, not a surge in demand. This distinction is important because the two result in very different economic consequences.
Saudi Arabia shuts down a major pipeline following a drone attack. The East-West pipeline, with a capacity of approximately 7 million barrels per day, has been shut down as a precautionary measure. This line has served as an alternative route allowing Saudi oil to exit without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The loss of this route means reliance on Hormuz has increased just as the strait itself is facing issues.
A balancing factor is coming from the demand side. The International Energy Agency has cut its 2026 global oil demand forecast by 2.5 million barrels per day, the largest cut since the pandemic. The United States has also raised its domestic production forecast for 2027 to 14.3 million barrels per day. Diplomatic efforts between Iran and Gulf nations to open a temporary shipping corridor through Hormuz are also tempering the rise.
This means current prices are the result of a tug-of-war: disrupted supply pushing prices up, and weakening demand holding them down. As long as the supply issues remain unresolved, the trend is likely to remain upward.
Six Channels of Impact from Rising Oil Prices
Oil is one of the few prices in the world that factors into almost everything else. Here are the channels, from the most immediately visible to the most frequently overlooked.
Impact 1: United States Inflation
Energy goes directly into the Consumer Price Index (CPI) calculation. In the US August CPI data released on September 11, the gasoline index rose 3.9% month-over-month and accounted for more than a third of the headline CPI increase. The overall energy index rose 2.1%. As a result, headline CPI rose 0.4% monthly and 3.4% annually, hotter than market expectations.
What makes this situation uncomfortable is that core CPI, which excludes food and energy components, remains relatively contained at 0.3% monthly and 2.4% annually. So, the problem is truly concentrated in energy.
Impact 2: The Fed's Interest Rate Policy
This is why oil prices are everyone's business, not just energy investors'.
After the August CPI was released, the probability of a Fed rate hike at the September 16 meeting jumped from the 60%-70% range to 85%-90%, according to CME FedWatch. The benchmark interest rate is currently at 3.50% to 3.75%.
There is a dilemma here worth understanding. Inflation stemming from the supply side, such as oil pipeline disruptions, cannot be solved by raising interest rates, because high rates do not make oil flow again. However, central banks cannot ignore high headline inflation figures either, as their credibility is at stake. The result is a policy that suppresses the economy without solving the root cause. The background on how these institutions work is discussed in the main functions of a central bank.
Impact 3: Risk Assets Including Crypto
Rising interest rates increase the yield on risk-free assets like US government bonds. When bonds offer higher returns, non-yielding assets like Bitcoin and gold face tougher competition for capital.
The effect is already visible. US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded four consecutive days of outflows from September 8 to 11, totaling approximately US$462.6 million. Bitcoin itself is hovering around US$77,459, down 3.8% over the week.
It is worth noting that this relationship does not always move in one direction. In some periods, very high oil prices actually trigger recession fears, which ultimately lowers interest rate expectations and helps risk assets. So, the path of the impact depends on how far the increases continue.
Impact 4: Gold and Hedging Assets
Gold is in an interesting position as it is being hit by two opposing forces simultaneously.
On one hand, rising inflation has historically supported gold as a hedge for purchasing power. On the other hand, rising interest rates pressure gold because they increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets.
The result of that tug-of-war is visible in current prices. Spot gold is around US$4,328.10 per troy ounce, and XAUt, a digital gold token backed by one troy ounce of physical gold, is at US$4,346.03. Both are moving marginally, rather than surging as people might expect when hearing that inflation is rising.
Impact 5: The Indonesian Economy
For readers in Indonesia, this is the path that hits the wallet the hardest.
State budget. The 2026 State Budget (APBN) uses an Indonesian Crude Price (ICP) assumption of US$70 per barrel. The realized ICP for July 2026 was already at US$81.68 per barrel, and world oil prices are now well above that. The further the realization exceeds the assumption, the greater the pressure on energy subsidy and compensation spending.
Fuel prices are split in two. The price of subsidized Pertalite is maintained by the government even when world oil prices rise. Pertamax and other non-subsidized products follow the movement of world crude oil prices. As of the early September 2026 adjustment, Pertamax Turbo is at Rp19,600 per liter and Pertamina Dex is at Rp25,200 per liter.
Domestic inflation follows later. Rising non-subsidized fuel prices drive up transportation and distribution costs, which then spill over into the prices of goods and services. This effect is not instantaneous; it usually takes a few months to be fully reflected in inflation data. The sectors most quickly affected are transportation, logistics, and industries that rely on fuel.
Impact 6: Crypto Mining Costs
This is the path most often overlooked in discussions about oil prices and crypto.
Bitcoin mining is a business where the primary cost is electricity. When energy prices rise, miners' margins narrow. Miners whose operating margins are already thin may be forced to sell some of their mined Bitcoin to cover operating costs, which adds selling pressure to the market.
The effect is gradual and not always immediately visible in daily prices, but structurally, this is one way energy prices enter the crypto ecosystem without going through macro channels at all.
Summary of Six Impact Channels
What to Watch Moving Forward
Whether supply recovers. The key lies in the reopening of Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline and the smooth flow of tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. As long as these two remain abnormal, price pressure is likely to persist. This is also the most important factor for the direction of USO in the near term.
Next month's inflation data. If oil prices remain above US$100 throughout September, the effect will reappear in the next CPI data, extending pressure on interest rate policy.
Whether core components also rise. As long as the increase is concentrated in energy and core CPI remains controlled, the argument that this inflation is transitory can still be maintained. If energy costs start to spill over into the prices of other goods and services, the story becomes much more serious.
FOMC decision on September 16. With the probability of an interest rate hike approaching 90%, what will determine market direction is the tone of the forward guidance from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, rather than the rate hike decision itself.
Conclusion
Token USO on Mobee is around US$158, practically touching the top of its 52-week range, driven by the surge in oil prices due to the closure of a major Saudi Arabian pipeline. Because it trades 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, this token already accounts for movements that occur while US markets are closed, which is relevant for investors in the Indonesian time zone.
However, this instrument has characteristics that need to be understood first. USO holds futures contracts, not physical oil, so its performance depends on the shape of the futures curve, which can change direction. Recently, that condition has been favorable, as seen from the one-year return of 107.34%, which outperformed the rise in WTI prices themselves. But over the last decade, the opposite condition has caused USO to lag far behind spot oil prices. Therefore, this instrument is more suitable for tactical positions that are monitored rather than long-term passive holdings.
Beyond the instrument itself, rising oil prices are spreading through six different channels simultaneously, from US inflation and interest rate expectations, pressuring risk assets including crypto, burdening the Indonesian state budget and driving up non-subsidized fuel prices, to eroding crypto miner margins. Everything stems from the same root, and as long as supply has not recovered, those channels are likely to remain active.
A more complete framework for reading market signals is discussed in how to analyze crypto, and to monitor price levels without needing to constantly watch the screen, price alert set alerts for the price points that matter to you.
Disclaimer. All information in this article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment recommendations or financial advice. The impact path analysis above is an editorial assessment based on data available as of September 14, 2026, and is not a prediction. USO is a tokenized representation of an exchange-traded fund that holds oil futures contracts, not direct ownership of physical oil or the fund itself; therefore, its performance may differ from spot oil price movements, especially over the long term. The 52-week high is not an all-time high. Commodity and crypto asset prices can change rapidly. Always conduct your own research and align your decisions with your personal risk profile.
