CPI Upends Rate Reckoning, CME BTC Vol. Futures Go Live in June, CLARITY Markup Moves Forward

This episode was recorded live via X Spaces - audio quality varies in places.In this week's CF Benchmarks live X Space, recorded May 14, 2026, the team unpacks a packed week for macro, policy and market structure: a hot CPI print that flips rate-cut expectations on their head; the CLARITY Act clears the Senate Banking Committee with bipartisan support; Kevin Warsh's narrow confirmation as Fed Chair designate; and CME announces Bitcoin Volatility futures will launch on June 1.Join Head of Research Gabe Selby, CFA, Research Analyst Mark Pilipczuk, Kraken Chief Economist Thomas Perfumo, CFA, and - for a special deep dive on CME's watershed product launch - CF Benchmarks Senior Product Manager Xin Wang.Chapters:00:00 – Intro & Team Welcome00:53 – Hot CPI Print: 3.8% YoY & The Rate Hike Pivot03:25 – PPI Confirms The Trend: Sharpest Print Since March 202205:25 – Market Impact: S&P at All-Time Highs, 10-Year Tops Year-to-Date07:00 – CLARITY Act Markup: Today's Pivotal Senate Banking Vote09:35 – GENIUS Act as the Analog: Why CLARITY Matters11:57 – Calendar Risk: Beating the Midterm Clock13:06 – Warsh Confirmed 54-45 — But Powell Stays Until 202818:46 – The Real Story: A Divided Fed Board, Not a Puppet Chair21:00 – Bitcoin at $81K & The 200-Week Moving Average in Focus24:26 – ETF Bid Support: Stairs Up, Elevator Down?27:05 – Stagflation Tilt: GDPNow & Decelerating Growth28:20 – Ether's Relief Rally: Catch-Up Trade or Real Move?31:03 – Altcoin Leadership: AI & Compute Tokens Take the Lead34:51 – CME Launches Bitcoin Vol. Futures June 1: a Watershed Moment36:33 – Inside BVX/BVXS: 30-Day Forward Vol. on CME Bitcoin Options39:18 – Is BVX the "VIX of Bitcoin"? Similarities & Differences41:40 – Vol. as Feature, Not Bug: How Practitioners Will Deploy BVX44:25 – The IBIT Options Effect: Compressing Bitcoin's Vol. Curve50:06 – The $10T Asset Question: Why Bitcoin Vol. Trends Down52:54 – Week Ahead: FOMC Minutes & The Trump-Xi Summit56:26 – Closing Remarks