The number of Ordinal inscriptions crossed 100,000 late Tuesday night, and unlike Bitcoin sidechains like Stacks or Counterparty, Ordinals are inscribed directly onto the blockchain

Even as U.S. regulators intensify their actions against crypto currency exchanges and their staking programs, the cost of Bitcoin was near $24,300 on Wednesday, the highest level since August 2022, advancing 8.2 per cent during the past 24 hours, as per data from CoinGecko.

The rise, which comes near breaking an eight-month record, comes as users and top brands rush to the OG blockchain to inscribe content on the network using Ordinals inscriptions.

The number of Ordinal inscriptions surpassed 100,000 late Tuesday night, and unlike Bitcoin sidechains like Stacks or Counterparty, Ordinals are inscribed right onto the blockchain. Inscriptions were possible because of the SegWit and Taproot upgrades to the Bitcoin network, as they are kept in the transaction witness of a Bitcoin block.

Projects moving to Ordinals include the popular Solana NFT collection DeGods, which kept 535 DeGods NFTs on the Bitcoin blockchain. On Wednesday, Xverse, a Bitcoin-based web wallet, added support for Ordinals.

But while Ordinals are having a great time, some point to the latest actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against stablecoins and staking, speculating that investors are turning their altcoins into Bitcoin, which Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler said in the past was not a security.

Last week, the SEC charged crypto currency exchange Kraken with a $30mln fine for failing to ‘properly’ register its staking program.

On Monday, fellow U.S.-based crypto currency exchange, Coinbase, said it would defend its staking services against the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Coinbase’s staking services are not securities, tweeted Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong. We will happily defend this in court if required.