Today in crypto, Pakistan has tapped former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao as an adviser to its national crypto council; an Ethereum whale moved to deposit $14 million in ETH to prevent liquidation on a $340 million short position; and Bitcoin’s hashrate has officially surpassed 1 zetahash per second, marking a major milestone for the network.
Pakistan appoints Changpeng Zhao as crypto adviser as adoption heats up
Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has been appointed as an adviser to Pakistan’s Crypto Council, a newly formed regulatory body tasked with overseeing the country’s embrace of blockchain technology and digital assets.
The appointment was confirmed by Pakistan’s finance ministry and reported by Bloomberg on April 7. Zhao will advise the regulatory body on cryptocurrency regulation, infrastructure and adoption, Bloomberg reported.
In March, the CEO of Pakistan’s Crypto Council, Bilal bin Saqib, told Bloomberg that the country plans to develop a clear regulatory framework for digital assets.
“Pakistan is done sitting on the sidelines,” Saqib said. “We want to attract international investment because Pakistan is a low-cost high-growth market with […] a Web3 native workforce ready to build.”
CZ is seen signing documents during his appointment by Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance. Source: Business Recorder
Whale makes $14 million Ether emergency deposit to avoid $340 million liquidation
An unidentified cryptocurrency whale injected millions of dollars in emergency capital to avoid a potential liquidation of more than $300 million in Ether as markets slumped amid renewed macroeconomic pressure.
The whale is reportedly close to liquidation on a 220,000 Ether (ETH) position on MakerDAO, a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platform. To stave off liquidation, the investor deposited 10,000 ETH — worth more than $14.5 million — and 3.54 million Dai (DAI) to raise the position’s liquidation price, blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain said in an April 7 post on X.
“If $ETH drops to $1,119.3, the 220,000 $ETH($340M) will be liquidated.”
Source: Lookonchain
The development came hours after another Ether investor was liquidated for over $106 million on the decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platform Sky.
The whale lost more than 67,000 ETH when the asset crashed by around 14% on April 6. Sky’s system employs an overcollateralization ratio, typically 150% or higher, meaning that users need to deposit at least $150 worth of ETH to borrow 100 DAI.
Bitcoin hashrate tops 1 zetahash in historic first
The Bitcoin network hashrate has topped 1 zetahash per second (ZH/s) for the first time in Bitcoin’s 16-year history, according to several blockchain data sources.
Bitcoin’s hashrate crossed the milestone on April 5 at a peak of 1.025 ZH/s, according to mempool.space data, while BTC Frame data said it hit 1.02 ZH/s a day earlier.
Bitcoin’s hashrate has fallen back below 0.95 ZH/s on April 7 since reaching 1 ZH/s. Source: BTC Frame
Data from Coinwarz says that Bitcoin hashrate soared to as high as 1.1 ZH/s on April 4 at block height 890,915 — however, the same data indicates that Bitcoin first crossed 1 ZH/s on March 24.
The Bitcoin network’s reported rise to 1 ZH/s — equivalent to 1,000 Exahashes per second — marks a 1,000x increase since late January 2016, when Bitcoin first hit 1 EH/s for the first time.