*By Jacqueline Corba*
Bitcoin soared back above the [$8,000 mark this week for the first time since May](https://cheddar.com/videos/reddit-co-founder-on-the-state-of-cryptocurrency). The surge comes as more institutional investors look to grab a piece of the still-emerging crypto market.
"From a stored value perspective I'm a Bitcoin maximalist," [Fin co-CEO and co-Founder Sam Lessin](https://cheddar.com/videos/tech-entrepreneur-sam-lessin-authors-childrens-book-on-bitcoin) told Cheddar's Crypto Craze Thursday. "If you look at the broader blockchain and crypto ecosystem, I don't think people fully appreciate how deeply big a deal it is to have an immutable ledger globally."
Lessin, who served as a vice president of product management at Facebook from 2010 to 2014, joins fellow Facebook alum Anthony Pompliano in his bullish outlook on Bitcoin, the largest digital currency by market cap.
"I've got a high degree of confidence that at some point in the future its going to hit $50,000. And I've got some degree of confidence that it will be by the end of this year," Pompliano, who now runs Morgan Creek Digital Assets, told Cheddar.
The factors driving the value up? Human psychology, speculation around a [cryptocurrency ETF](https://www.coindesk.com/bitwise-proposes-etf-for-top-10-cryptos/), and growing institutional interest, said Pompliano.
Facebook itself even wants in on crypto. In May, [Cheddar reported Facebook is developing its own digital currency](https://cheddar.com/videos/facebook-plans-to-create-its-own-cryptocurrency-2).
"I have a lot of respect for the Facebook team," said Lessin. "What they have is a fundamental networkーthe biggest one ever in the history of the world connecting people." He called a Facebook move toward crypto an "obvious play."
For full interview, [click here] (https://cms.cheddar.com/videos/VmlkZW8tMjExNzY=).
Cruise, the autonomous-vehicle company backed by General Motors and Honda, unveiled the Origin on Tuesday which it says is the first self-driving vehicle designed from the ground-up to get from here to there without a driver.
Investors were eager to see how the company fared following the launch of Disney+ and AppleTV+ in November and in light of the upcoming launch of NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service.
CoinTracker, a startup that helps people calculate their taxes on crypto holdings, is introducing a free tier of service for users with less than 200 crypto transactions in a tax year as the IRS makes turns its attention to investors in “virtual currencies.”
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Greg Marsh, CEO of key duplication service KeyMe, wants his company to become the most trusted name in locksmithing and just got a boost from a $35 million round of fundraising.
The tech industry in the City of Angels is booming and Dot.La, a new digital media startup, wants to tell its story.
Atom Finance is challenging Bloomberg — whose eponymous terminal continues to dominate trading floors — by trying to develop a simpler product offering the depth of information that an institutional product might offer, but without a price tag that would break the bank for retail investors.
Here are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, January 17, 2020.
Comcast announced more details about its upcoming service Peacock at a special investor presentation Thursday.
The UK-based startup Arrival, which is building small- and medium-sized electric vans for deliveries and other commercial roles, announced this week that it’s attracted a $110 million investment from Hyundai and Kia. The company says the partnership bumps Arrival’s valuation to more than $3 billion dollars.
