Friday Forecasts: 07/05/26
May 8, 2026
Your weekly pulse on markets, narratives, protocols, and policy.
Market Pulse
World’s Largest Custodian Bank to Launch Bitcoin and Ethereum Investment Products
BNY is getting ready to delve further into digital assets. According to reports, the biggest custodian bank in the world intends to start offering cryptocurrency custody services in Abu Dhabi, initially concentrating on Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Solana News: Solana and Google Launch AI Stablecoin Payment System
Solana news gained attention after the Solana Foundation and Google Cloud launched Pay.sh, a stablecoin payment system for AI agents. The platform allows software agents to access and pay for APIs using Solana-based stablecoins.
Narratives to Watch
Bitwise CEO says four-year crypto cycle is dead as institutional era takes hold
Hunter Horsley, Bitwise Asset Management co-founder and CEO, has a message for crypto investors still waiting for the market to bounce back on schedule: stop waiting.
Bitcoin Bollinger Bands push key breakout as creator acts on positive signal
Data from TradingView confirms that on Wednesday, BTC/USD saw its second daily close above the upper Bollinger Band on the daily chart, something it has not achieved since mid-January.
Protocol Watch
Ripple, JPMorgan settle first cross-border tokenized Treasury redemption on XRP Ledger
Akey piece of financial infrastructure stitching tokenized assets to traditional banking got a real cross-border test this week.
Ondo Finance said Wednesday it had completed the first near-real-time cross-border redemption of a tokenized U.S. Treasury fund alongside JPMorgan’s blockchain platform Kinexys, payments giant Mastercard, and Ripple.
Major Step for Cardano: Hard Fork Submitted to Preview Ahead of Mainnet
Cardano has reached a significant milestone as the van Rossem hard fork takes a step closer to mainnet launch.
According to Intersect, a member-based organization in the Cardano ecosystem, the van Rossem hard fork has been submitted to the preview test network.
Regulatory Radar
South Korea crypto sector warns AML proposal goes too far: Report
Crypto industry body DAXA said the proposed rules could push suspicious transaction reports from South Korea’s five largest exchanges to more than 5.4 million a year, Yonhap reported.
Ripple CEO says market structure bill not ‘done deal,’ despite compromise
Brad Garlinghouse addressed attendees at a Tuesday crypto conference on the progress of the CLARITY Act after US lawmakers announced a compromise on stablecoin yield that could advance the legislation.
Moonrig Perspective
Markets are maturing — and so are narratives.
Real opportunity now lies in utility-backed protocols, tokenomics with intent, and cross-chain infrastructure.
This is where Moonrig gives you the edge:
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