*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=).
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.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know.
TRM Labs, the year-old crypto risk management startup, is planning to use its newly raised $4.2 million to grow its engineering and data science teams locally, expand into new markets, and accelerate product development, Esteban Castaño, co-founder and CEO of TRM Labs, told Cheddar Thursday.
Charles Schwab is reportedly planning a $26 billion purchase of TD Ameritrade in an unsurprising response to the industry's tectonic shift to zero-commission trading fees.
Volkswagen gets its first chance to show off its new electric vehicle, the ID. Space Vizzion, even as the California government boycotts the show over some automakers siding with the White House in a fight over emissions standards.
For PayPal, whose customers comprise both consumers and merchants, this deal for Honey, the browser extension that scours the internet for coupons, helps the company move up the funnel to discovery.
Part of the updates includes testing “publisher white lists,” which will allow brands to select which accounts that their ads are approved to run on. It also includes centralized ways to create publisher blocklists, set ad inventory filters, and get reports.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, November 20, 2019.
Blockchain analytics startup Elliptic has added XRP, the native currency of the Ripple payment network, to its risk management suite and identified $400 million in XRP transactions linked to illicit activity, including scams, theft and money laundering.
The Growing Renewable Energy and Efficiency Now (or GREEN) Act would add five years to the so-called investment tax credit (ITC) that provides an upfront subsidy to solar and offshore wind projects.
