Hope is a great thing. But what one is hoping for is the most important. Some hopes are tied to ones dream and career, some are what can best be described as wishful thinking. When hope is about life, you can feel some omens around that will make you to hold on and the outcome will eventually be good.
Hope is very crucial to confidence and nothing outstanding can be achieved without confidence.
However, wishful thinking taking the shape of hope is when you have the "optimistic mind" that is not backed up by efforts.
Going by your example of Bitconnect, most people that ventured into it got the information that is likely a scam, went into it and even had the opportunity to get out on time, but didn't, waiting for it to get to $1,000 like you put it, IMO, that isn't hope but wishful thinking.
And for the lot that invested also without having the knowledge of what Bitconnect was about but just want to make money, it is not hope as well, that is wishful think, as ignorance is not an excuse!