Founder of the Ikigai cryptocurrency hedge fund Travis Kling believes that a small group of wealthy traders can push the Bitcoin rate to new heights.

Kling based on data from its own analysis and information from other institutional investors. In his opinion, there is a small group of "risky whales", which caused the recent take-off of the first cryptocurrency course.

David Chaum said that the most stunning application for the industry would be a privacy-oriented message-sending system, integrated with payments.

The digital currency pioneer said this in an interview with Bloomberg Odd Lots podcast. David Chaum is the creator of the predecessor of Bitcoin, e-currency Ecash, and one of the founders of the cyberpunk movement. Chaum told Bloomberg that raising awareness of privacy and digital sovereignty in the modern era paved the way for blockchain and cryptocurrency, which can make a breakthrough and go into mass use. 

Co-founder and CEO of Kenetic Capital, Jehan Chu expressed the opinion that the rate of the first cryptocurrency by the end of this year will exceed $ 30,000.

Chu made a statement in an interview with Bloomberg. According to the head of Kenetic Capital, one of the main factors for the growth of Bitcoin will be the launch of the Fidelity and Bakkt platforms, the emergence of Facebook's own cryptocurrency. In addition, the recent unsuccessful share offerings conducted by Uber and Lift may attract investors to "new technology companies."

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.

Changpeng Zhao, the head of one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges BINANCE, expressed the opinion that cryptocurrencies will become a shared future and urged everyone to accept digital assets.

"If you don't want to be left out in the future, you will have to embrace it," Zhao said at the 10th Asian Leadership Conference 2019 in South Korea.

Well-known cryptocurrency enthusiast Tom Lee expressed the opinion that the return of Bitcoin to $ 8,000 after falling to $ 6,400 is a clear sign of the end of a "cryptocurrency winter".

Tom Lee immediately presented 13 reasons for the end of the bear market, and one of the main reasons he called the return of Bitcoin to $ 8,000. According to the co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors, this confirms the bullish trend in the cryptocurrency market.

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. 

Joseph Lubin said that the blockchain scalability of Ethereum would grow 1,000 times in the next two years.

Co-founder of Ethereum expressed his opinion in an interview with Cointelegraph last weekend. Lubin specified that such a significant increase in scalability will be ensured by the next iteration of the Ethereum 2.0 blockchain network. He explained that the development divided into four stages and that eight groups are already creating clients for the new chain. 

The famous cryptocurrency enthusiast and head of Galaxy Digital, Michael Novogratz, said that Bitcoin is only a means of storing wealth, and the world will change Web 3.0.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued a startup that promised crowdfunding participants a smart backpack, but instead spent money to buy BTC and pay for credit cards.

The lawsuit states that Douglas Monahan and his company iBackPack of Texas raised $ 800,000 to "develop several products," including a smart backpack with batteries for charging phones and laptops. However, instead of releasing the iBackpack, as the FTC claims, Monahan was spending money "on personal goals." The commission also claims that Monahan threatened displeased customers on the Internet.

After hacking of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, which resulted in 7,000 BTC stolen, founder of Tron Justin San announced his intention to make a deposit on Binance in the amount of USD 40 million.

"To support Binance, I will personally deposit 7000 BTC worth USDT (40 million USDT) into Binance to buy BNB, BTC, TRX, & BTT if CZ agrees. No need to FUD! Funds are #SAFU," he wrote on Twitter.

One of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance, reported a burglary, as a result of which hackers were able to obtain some user data and withdraw 7,000 BTC from the hot wallet of the exchange.

The official report says that the attackers managed to get hold of a significant number of API-keys of users, as well as codes of two-factor authentication. Perhaps they were able to obtain other user data.

Mati Greenspan, a senior analyst at eToro, expressed the opinion that for Bitcoin growth, it is not necessary that the Bitcoin ETF is approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

"The idea of the SEC approving a Bitcoin ETF is basically saying that the government is going to approve something that the banks made. I don't think Bitcoin cares very much about that," Greenspan said.

Amber Baldet, former CEO of JP Morgan, said that decentralized applications should be easy to use, and users do not need to know about the underlying technology.

According to Amber Baldet, users do not need to know exactly how the application works. For them, the ease of use and the functions provided by the application are important, not the blockchain on which it was created.

Japan Minister of Finances and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso called on journalists to stop using the term "virtual currencies" and opt for "crypto assets".

Taro Aso gave a speech at a press conference after the government meeting. The full transcript of questions and answers dated March 26 was published by the Japan Financial Services Agency (FSA) on April 25th, along with an English translation.