Bitcoin saw its value surge on Thursday, reaching the highest level it had seen since August, even as cryptocurrency exchanges were coming under increased regulatory pressure from regulators.

The oldest and largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was up by over 11%, hitting $24,619 per token as of 09:47 GMT. Overall, the entire cryptocurrency market was up more than $76 billion (+8%) in the previous 24 hours, according to data from Coinmarketcap.com.

The rally occurred even as US regulators are increasingly scrutinizing digital currencies and the platforms on which they are being traded.

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken was fined $30 million by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which claimed it had failed to register its staking program “properly.”

Crypto firm Paxos was told on Monday, by the New York State Department of Financial Services, to cease minting new Binance USD, or BUSD stablecoins.

Yuya Hasegawa, an analyst at Japanese crypto firm Bitcoin Bank observed in an interview with CNBC, “The current regulatory environment surely looks like a headwind for the crypto market, but it seems like some money is moving from altcoins to Bitcoin, since Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency that is labeled ‘commodity’ by the SEC chair.” He added, “consequently, Bitcoin’s market dominance is on the rise.”

The crypto-market as a whole lost almost $1.4 trillion amid bankruptcies in the sector and a flood of investors heading for the exits. The turmoil reached a peak with the collapse of the giant cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

Vijay Ayyar, vice president of corporate development and international at crypto exchange Luno noted that it increasingly looks like the market bottomed out last November, and has now begun a new bullish cycle.

He said, “We are gaining in momentum here and any bad news is being shrugged off, typical signs that the market believes the worst is over.”