In 1997 David Bowie once again startled the world with his creativity, this time in the unlikely realm of financial engineering. The rock icon convinced Wall Street types to fork out $55m, in exchange for which they would be entitled to all future royalties generated by his old albums. It is not just pop starmen needing to finance rock’n’roll lifestyles that might fancy turning tomorrow’s uncertain income into today’s ready cash. American states have similarly transformed the money they expected Big Tobacco firms would one day pay them in compensation for wrecking public health into upfront cash from investors. Now, in a twist even Bowie might find odd, another stream of future income is being touted as a candidate for such get-me-cash-now repackaging: putative Russian war reparations to Ukraine. Given that the Kremlin will one day have to pay compensation to Ukraine for the damage it has caused there, the thinking goes, why not convert that money due tomorrow into a lump sum available today—then send it to Ukraine to help it fend off Russia?