Night crypto market digest: Anthropic and Riot struck a giant deal, Hayes sees a bullish scenario for bitcoin, and BlackRock lowers the entry threshold for ETFs
While most market participants were resting, several landmark events occurred. AI developer Anthropic struck a multi-billion-dollar deal with miner Riot, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes outlined a non-obvious but extremely positive scenario for bitcoin, and BlackRock radically simplified access to its bitcoin ETF.
Quotes and Market Dynamics
Bitcoin (BTC) stabilized around $63,980 by the morning of August 11. During the night, consolidation was observed on the 15-minute chart: the price briefly dipped to $63,800, then attempted to hold above $64,100, but ultimately returned to the $64,000 level. Ether (ETH) held near $1,874, showing low volatility in a narrow range of $1,868–$1,880 after a recent decline from $1,928.
Altcoins in the top ten showed mixed dynamics. Hyperliquid (HYPE) led the gains, adding 2.12%, followed by Solana (SOL) with a rise of 1.04%. At the same time, BNB corrected downward by 0.52%.
Among the top-100 assets, Curve DAO Token (CRV) stood out, surging by 10.8%. Internet Computer (ICP) and Lighter (LIT) also demonstrated solid growth, rising by 7.84% and 6.62%, respectively. The day's laggard was the Audiera token (BEAT), which plunged by 51.2%, followed by Canton (CC) and Cardano (ADA) with declines of 6.25% and 4.94%.
ETF Flows and Liquidations
Flows into spot exchange-traded funds were mixed. Bitcoin ETFs recorded outflows of $144.67 million, while ether products lost $14.59 million. At the same time, investors showed interest in Solana funds, which attracted $8.83 million, and HYPE products with inflows of $2.74 million.
Over the past 24 hours, positions of 68,722 traders were liquidated on exchanges for a total of $201.08 million. The largest single liquidation order occurred on Hyperliquid — positions worth $10.55 million were closed under a BRENTOIL oil contract.
Key Events of the Night
The main news was the partnership between Anthropic and bitcoin miner Riot Platforms. The deal is worth $9.1 billion over 20 years. The developer of the Claude model will receive 191 MW of computing capacity at Riot's site in Rockdale, Texas. Full deployment of the capacity is scheduled for June 2028. Two five-year renewal options could increase the total contract value to $16.1 billion. This is a clear signal that AI giants are willing to pay a premium in the race for infrastructure, opening new prospects for miners.
Arthur Hayes presented an unconventional scenario for yen strengthening, which, in his view, would be bullish for the crypto market. He believes Japan will not raise rates or sell off U.S. Treasuries but will instead use the Fed's FIMA repo facility. The country could pledge U.S. Treasury bonds in exchange for dollars, then sell them to buy yen. If the $60 billion counterparty limit is raised, the Fed's balance sheet would expand, and the resulting dollar liquidity would become a positive factor for bitcoin, gold, and ether. The Japanese government and the GPIF fund hold about $1.37 trillion in such bonds, making this scenario quite realistic.
BlackRock also made a move toward institutional investors. Managing Director Robert Mitchnick announced a reduction in the minimum threshold for in-kind transactions in the bitcoin ETF from $25 million to $1 million. Now, a bitcoin holder with $1 million can directly exchange their coins for shares of the IBIT fund through authorized participants. Additionally, he announced the BITA fund, targeting returns of 15–19% with lower volatility and limited upside potential for bitcoin.
My expert opinion: The Anthropic and Riot deal is not just a one-off story but confirmation of a trend toward the industrial convergence of AI and mining. Miners with access to cheap energy are becoming strategic partners for tech giants, which could radically change the economics of their business. As for Hayes's scenario, it looks logical and potentially extremely positive for the market, but implementation will take time. BlackRock's lowering of the threshold is unequivocally a bullish signal, simplifying access to the ETF for mid-sized funds and wealthy retail investors, which will increase capital inflows into bitcoin.