The number of Ordinal inscriptions on the Bitcoin (BTC) network has surpassed 100,000, a milestone that comes less than a day after Ordinals crossed the 75,000 inscription mark. Transaction fees for these NFTs have topped $114,000.

The amount of Bitcoin traded on the DBS Digital Exchange surged 80% last year, while the number of BTC in custody as of December 31 more than doubled from a year earlier, despite the cryptocurrency bear market.

Stablecoin issuer Circle has denied rumors it received a Wells notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over USDC. Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy at Circle Pay, denied the rumors on social media.

 Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Bitcoin NFTs Surpass 100,000 Inscription Mark
• DBS Exchange Says Bitcoin Trading Surged 80% During Crypto Winter
• Circle Denies Rumors it Received a Wells Notice
• BUSD-USDT Trading Volume Surges 4,600%

Bitcoin NFTs Surpass 100,000

The number of Ordinal inscriptions on the Bitcoin (BTC) network has surpassed 100,000, a milestone that comes less than a day after Ordinals crossed the 75,000 inscription mark. Transaction fees for these NFTs have topped $114,000.

The NFTs have seen the memory usage per BTC block exceed the standard 300 MB capacity by 86 MB, leading to a purge of any transaction of less than 1.74 satoshis per byte as network congestion slowly grows.

Ordinals is a protocol that assigns a unique and non-fungible number to each satoshi, the smallest denomination of a Bitcoin, allowing users to attach data such as images, smart contracts, and more to Bitcoin transactions.

The Taproot soft fork in November 2021 enabled the technological applications of the Ordinal protocol, which launched Bitcoin Ordinals on January 21.

Although the popularity of Ordinals has surged, the protocol is still in its nascent stage and lacks features necessary for long-term growth, such as more efficient methods to inscribe new Ordinals without synchronizing the entire blockchain and marketplaces to facilitate trade.

DBS Exchange Says Bitcoin Trading Surged 80% During Crypto Winter

The amount of Bitcoin traded on the DBS Digital Exchange surged 80% last year, while the number of BTC in custody as of December 31 more than doubled from a year earlier, despite the cryptocurrency bear market.

DBS Digital Exchange’s CEO, Lionel Lim, said in a statement that the market “has decisively shifted its focus towards trust and stability especially in the wake of multiple scandals that have rocked the industry.”

Its customer base doubled last year, according to DBS. It allows for BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, DOT, and ADA trading. The exchange does not accept retail users.

The exchange was set up in late 2020 by Southeast Asia’s biggest lender, making it one of the initial players from traditional finance to enter the crypto space. The bank remains on the lookout for potential ventures in the industry and recently announced plans to seek a license that will enable it to provide crypto services to customers in Hong Kong.

Circle Denies Rumors it Received a Wells Notice

Stablecoin issuer Circle has denied rumors it received a Wells notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over USDC. Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy at Circle Pay, denied the rumors on social media.

A Wells notice is used by the regulator to inform entities of possible enforcement action. After receiving a Wells notice, companies have a chance to write back to the SEC and explain why they should not move forward with a lawsuit. Receiving these notices does not automatically mean that the SEC will take enforcement action.

Earlier this week, rival stablecoin issuer Paxos Trust received a Wells notice from the regulator, alleging  Binance USD (BUSD) is an unregistered security. BUSD is a Binance-branded stablecoin issued by Paxos and listed on several exchanges, including Paxos’ itBit platform.

BUSD-USDT Trading Volume Surges 4,600%

Paxos has revealed that it will discontinue the issuance of new BUSD tokens on February 21 and terminate its collaboration with Binance. BUSD holders don’t need to worry as their tokens will remain pegged 1:1 to the US dollar.

The announcement led to a significant surge in the trading volume of the BUSD-USDT pair, with a remarkable increase of 4836.2%.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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