Bitcoin Daily: Pakistan Eyes Own Crypto; Bitcoin ATM Operator Hopes For Boom

Pakistan is the latest country to work on a digital currency, The Express Tribune reported.

The country is currently studying how to make way for its own digital currency in line with numerous others, including China. It wants to look at expanding banking facilities to help the underserved, along with making it easier to fight money laundering and terrorism financing, according to the report.

In addition, a currency would help with one of the chief issues facing the Pakistan government by combatting corruption, the report stated.

In other news, Coin Cloud, a Las Vegas-based company working on bitcoin ATMs, has plans to expand 400 percent this year, a local news report stated.

Founder Chris McAlary said in the report that the goal is to go “from roughly around 2,000 today to 10,000 by end of year.”

He said the reason was the burgeoning popularity of cryptos, as well as the machines as an extension of that. International tourism has increased the acceptance, with digital currencies used to transmit money worldwide.

Meanwhile, China’s central bank is calling bitcoin an “investment alternative,” which is a change in terminology from a crackdown on cryptocurrency from Beijing a few years ago, CNBC reported.

“We regard Bitcoin and stablecoin as crypto assets … These are investment alternatives,” Li Bo, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), said Sunday (April 18) during a panel hosted by CNBC at the Boao Forum for Asia, CNBC reported.

Industry insiders said the comments are “progressive,” and they would be looking out for regulatory changes regarding crypto, according to CNBC.

Lastly, the crypto futures market saw a record number of asset liquidations over the weekend as a sudden bitcoin price pullback caught overleveraged traders by surprise, CoinDesk reported.

Exchanges offering crypto futures liquidated $10 billion worth of positions on Saturday (April 17), which easily blew past the previous record of $5.77 billion from Feb. 23, CoinDesk reported, citing data provider Bybt.

Forced closures or bullish trades accounted for $9.26 billion, or more than 90 percent of the total liquidations, according to CoinDesk.