According to a new "TokenData" research, ICO investment volumes in the first quarter of 2019 decreased 58 times compared to the same indicator of the first quarter of 2018.

The researchers note that in the first quarter of this year, in the course of primary placements of tokens (ICO), a total of $ 118 million collected. In the first quarter of last year, ICO projects received investments of $ 6.9 billion.

The social network VKontakte has plans to release its own cryptocurrency, but a specific decision to launch has not yet been made.

At the moment the project is supposed to create individual cryptocurrency accounts for all users of the social network. According to RNS, the news agency received a project presentation. It says that users will be able to receive cryptocurrency for time spent on the network and activity.

A cryptocurrency startup Bitrefill has added a service that allows users to pay their rent through the Airbnb service with five cryptocurrencies.

The Swedish company announced the innovations on its Twitter account, saying that customers can now pay for Airbnb gift cards at BTC, ETH, LTC, DOGE and DASH. However, currently Airbnb gift cards can only be redeemed by US residents.

The new Browser Extension "Conflict of Interest", developed by Luke Childs, will allow users to identify cryptocurrency posts on the social network Twitter, as well as evaluate the bias of the content.

The tool, developed by Luke Childs, is available as an extension for Opera, Google Chrome and Firefox browsers. The purpose of Conflict of Interest is to reveal the accuracy of the information and the motives of those who write about cryptocurrency on the social network Twitter.

The independent rating agency Weiss Ratings published a report analyzing the positions of 122 digital assets. According to analysts, the most promising of them are BTC, XRP and EOS.

In the monthly report, the agency presented the results of a research of the cryptocurrency market, where all digital assets assessed in the categories "Investment Risk and Profit", as well as "Technology and Acceptance". Each cryptocurrency assigned a rating from A to F.

The English blockchain company Wuabit has announced that it is developing a cryptocurrency wallet that will work through the interface of the popular messenger WhatsApp.

Reported that users will be able to manage transactions using a chat bot by simple commands, for example, "send 0.05 BTC to Vera". Wuabit representatives also said that the first phase of product development is already at the final stage.

Venture investor and famous cryptocurrency enthusiast Tim Draper advised the president of Argentina to legalize Bitcoin in order to improve the economic situation in the country.

The head of the American retail giant Overstock Patrick Byrne emphasized the blockchain's potential in the economy and said that in the future the invention of this technology would be equated with the creation of the Internet.

According to Patrick Byrne, the blockchain revolution we are currently seeing will be more important for future generations than the invention of the first printing press or the creation of the Internet.

Investors at approximately $ 740 million estimate the cryptocurrency platform Bakkt, created by the operator of the New York Stock Exchange.

During the first investment round of Series A, held in December last year, Bakkt collected $ 182.5 million to develop a platform that aims to attract institutional investors to cryptoassets. A probable valuation of $ 740 million suggests that Bakkt's owner, Intercontinental Exchange, has sold up to 25% of its shares to outside investors, including Galaxy, Pantera, Microsoft and Starbucks. Until now, the public catering giant has not made any investments in the site.

The head of the major cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX Arthur Hayes believes that the "cryptocurrency winter" is over and the course of Bitcoin this year will reach $ 10,000.

Hayes expressed the opinion that the recovery of the cryptocurrency market will start at the beginning of the fourth quarter of this year. However, he believes that the market will be quite difficult to go beyond the already formed side channel.