Weekly CryptoReport 22-26 January

As usual, we have gathered the most interesting news of this week for you. Enjoy!

Some fun. Let’s start with an unbelievable prediction about Bitcoin. A General director of Xapo Wences Casares forecasts the price of Bitcoin at $1 million. At the same time, he supposes that a chance of Bitcoin’s success is 50%, fail - 20%.
Telegram is still on hype. Media is giving new predictions about the Telegram pre-ICO. Numbers have risen to $3.8 billion instead of $850 million. We are waiting for a confirmation from P. Durov on an account “Antiscam” (@notoscam).
Opera protects its users from hidden mining. This function is available for the mobile version of Opera Mini for iOS и All you need to do is just activate an ad blocker in settings.
Cutting commission. A recommended commission for middle-size transactions in Bitcoin network for popular services (Blockchain.info, for example) declined to $1. SegWit and Lightning Network support such cuts a lot.
Russia is keeping up. A Head of Vnesheconombank Sergey Gorkov announced a launching of a blockchain-project on a registration of real estate in Moscow. It should be one of the biggest practical usage of blockchain in Russia or maybe in the world.
Block.one (developers of EOS) and Galaxy Digital LP are launching an investment fund for investments in innovation projects on blockchain EOS.
A platform Mercury Cash supports Dash. Now you can buy currency by credit card or bank transfer.
New horizons for Ripple. Financial companies MercuryFX and IDT Corporation are going to test a paying system xRapid where XRP will be used.
Mining does not stand still. A new generation of mining equipment is developed by Japanese corporation GMO Internet Group. It will be 12-nanometer mining chips.
False promises. The biggest energy company Hydro-Quebec is revoking its promises to support miners with cheap electricity. The number of applications from miners is too high, that is why the company cannot accept all of them.
A stock exchange Nasdaq is planning to take a step on the bitcoin futures market. A price of a contract can be bound to the spot-rate of cryptocurrencies.
All around the world. A cryptocurrency stock exchange bitFlyer has received a license of a payment institution in the EU. It is a first platform that acts officially in the USA, EU and, Japan.
Russia is toughening a control of Bitcoin. The Russian Federation Ministry of Finance announced a bill “On Digital Financial Assets”. The law controls emission and turnover, holding of ICO, determines mining and legal regime of cryptocurrency.
SCAM! ICO Benebit was a scam. Investors’ losses are $2.7 million. After users recognized fake pictures on a project website, it became inactive.
An old news with new data. The second wave of news about a ban on anonymous trading in South Korea shook up the market. Now we know the exact date of the law –January 30, 2018.
Japanese exchange Coincheck halted trading of all coins except Bitcoin. Bloomberg says that the exchange is not available for comments at this time.