The world's largest social network Facebook plans to release its own cryptocurrency called GlobalCoin next year.

According to the BBC, Facebook will launch a system of cryptocurrency payments in the "dozen countries" by the first quarter of 2020. The company intends to begin testing the system by the end of this year. More information about Facebook plans will appear in the coming months.

Telegram Company informed in a letter to investors that it plans to launch its project Telegram Open Network (TON) in the 3rd quarter of this year.

Representatives of Telegram said in their letter to investors that the network is being tested successfully: the test blockchain works fine, and the consensus algorithm is consistent with the goals stated in the Whitepaper of the project.

The head of the cryptocurrency investment company Morgan Creek Capital, Mark Yusko said that Bitcoin is "a great asset" that should be in the portfolio of every competent investor.

Yusko also stressed that in 10 years, Bitcoin significantly outperformed any funds based on traditional assets.

A cryptocurrency trader, Anthony Grisanti, who works on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), predicted a Bitcoin exchange rate to reach $ 7,000 and the subsequent consolidation of markets.

Anthony Grisanti made his assumptions on the Trade Alert program on CNBC. According to a professional trader, in the near future, the rate of the first cryptocurrency will fall to the level of $ 7,000.

The Ethereum Foundation announced its intention to invest about $ 30 million in the development of key projects in the Ethereum ecosystem.

According to the foundation's statement, over the next 12 months, $ 19 million will be allocated to "create Ethereum of tomorrow". In particular, funds will be directed to the development of Ethereum 2.0, "second-level" scaling solutions such as Plasma, and other research initiatives. In addition, in the coming year it is planned to spend an additional $ 8 million to support the current network of Ethereum through initiatives such as Ethereum 1x.

The company Zulu Republic announced the launch of a new bot in the popular WhatsApp messenger, through which users can send and receive BTC and LTC.

According to the Chainalysis study, a third of all ethers in circulation belong to only 376 people.

The study showed that despite the control of a significant part of ETH, these "whales" accounted for only 7% of all Ethereum transactions. Chainalysis concluded that, although these people do not necessarily have a significant impact on the price of ETH, they contribute to market volatility when large sales are made.

According to the new index of the analytical web platform Indexica, the current growth rate of Bitcoin is due to its development and maturity as an asset.

Analysts have identified three main factors of the growth rate of Bitcoin: popularity in the network, reducing concerns about fraud, as well as a change in the attitude of people to the first cryptocurrency. At the same time, researchers noted that more and more financial experts and scientists are discussing Bitcoin, and traditional financial institutions are starting to take this asset more seriously.

The Governor of the French Central Bank and member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank Francois Villeroy de Galhau said that the stablecoins have more potential than Bitcoin.

According to Bloomberg, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, in addition, believes that cryptocurrencies tied to fiat money, will benefit the global financial apparatus. 

According to the BitMEX cryptocurrency exchange study, investment in the ICO industry decreased by 97% compared with the previous year, and reached only $ 40 million in the first quarter of 2019.

According to the study, in the first quarter of 2019, the ICO market volume showed a decline of 97%, compared to the same period of 2018. According to the report, the top 10 ICO projects in terms of capital attracted in 2018 included EOS, Telegram, Dfinity, Bankera, t0, Basis, Orbs PumaPay, Jet8 and Unikoin Gold.