CLARITY Act Movement, April CPI, & OpenAI Drama

View from the Arch #132

May 15, 2026

This Week in Crypto

Bitcoin spent most of the week orbiting $80K (until we started writing this, at least…)

  • Institutional investors poured $858M into crypto funds last week, with more than $700M going into Bitcoin products specifically. So there is demand, but there’s also persistent Iran anxiety.

  • President Trump announced the ceasefire with Iran was “on massive life support”, which pushed Brent crude to $107 and crypto modestly lower.

  • BTC is currently hovering around $79K.

We actually saw movement on the CLARITY Act this week:

  • The Senate Banking Committee managed a last-minute turnaround to advance the crypto CLARITY Act 15-9 on Thursday.

  • Bitcoin rallied to roughly $82K during the session, and Coinbase, Circle, Galaxy Digital, and Strategy all traded higher.

Charles Schwab has joined the party:

  • Charles Schwab, which manages roughly $12T in client assets, began rolling out spot Bitcoin and Ethereum trading for retail customers on Tuesday.

This Week in TradFi

Kevin Warsh has officially entered the Fed:

  • Jerome Powell’s term as Fed chair ended on Friday, and the timing could not have been more specifically designed to inconvenience his successor.

  • The April CPI came in at 3.8% YoY, with a 0.6% monthly increase driven by energy prices, food, shelter, and airfares.

  • The PPI was worse - wholesale prices surged 6% annually vs. expectations of 4.9%, the largest monthly gain since March 2022. Bond markets rapidly priced out rate cuts, with futures now showing only one cut expected for the year vs. three cuts a month ago.

The S&P had a pretty confusing week:

  • Thursday, the S&P 500 posted its first close above 7,500 and the Dow jumped 370 points to recapture 50,000, fueled by optimism around Trump's China visit and strong earnings from Cisco.

  • Then, today, stocks sold off globally after Trump returned from Beijing with few specifics about what was achieved.

And Cisco earnings:

  • Cisco reported Q3 non-GAAP earnings of $1.06/share, beating estimates by about 2%, with revenues growing 12% YoY.

  • As a result, the stock jumped 13.4%.

This Week in Tech

OpenAI vs Apple drama:

  • OpenAI’s two-year partnership with Apple has become strained, with OpenAI failing to see the expected benefits of its deal and preparing possible legal action.

  • The core complaint is that OpenAI expected the partnership to drive significant growth in paid ChatGPT subscriptions through Apple's massive user base. Instead, internal data reportedly shows that Apple users prefer the standalone ChatGPT app over Siri-based integrations.

  • Another complication is that Apple is testing integrations with both Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini, and Gemini is expected to power Apple's revamped Siri launching this year.

  • The partnership was technically never exclusive, but OpenAI is still working with a legal firm on options, including notifying Apple of a breach of contract.

Speaking of OpenAI, I guess they’re (and Anthropic) consulting firms now?

  • OpenAI launched the OpenAI Deployment Company on Monday, a new consulting firm to help organizations build and deploy AI systems, and said it will acquire Tomoro, an applied AI consulting and engineering firm.

  • The move follows Anthropic's own formation of a similar joint venture with Wall Street financial services firms.

  • Anthropic's enterprise venture is backed by Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, Goldman Sachs, Apollo, and Sequoia, valued at $1.5 billion at launch.

  • Meanwhile, Anthropic passed OpenAI in paid business adoption rate for the first time, according to Ramp’s AI index.

As usual, below are some fundraising announcements, M&A, and tech personnel changes that caught our eye:

  • Cerebras Systems raised $5.5B in its IPO on Thursday, pricing shares at $185 on Wednesday evening.

  • Cisco cut nearly 4,000 jobs, around 5% of its workforce, to spend more on AI and cybersecurity.

  • Anduril has raised a $5B Series H round at a $61B valuation, led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.

Arch is building a next-gen wealth management platform for individuals holding Alternative Assets. Our flagship product is the crypto-backed loan, which allows you to securely and affordably borrow against your crypto.

Disclaimer: None of the above is financial advice, seriously.