The outgoing week proved truly pivotal for the market. While bitcoin pulled back to August lows, the largest miners made a 180-degree pivot, shifting from coin mining to infrastructure for artificial intelligence. In parallel, neural networks became a full-fledged weapon in the hands of hackers, and Moscow law enforcement reminded of the risks of cash exchange.
Bitcoin: Return to the Uncertainty Zone
July optimism faded. On August 14, the first cryptocurrency fell below the $63,000 mark, completely erasing the gains of the previous seven-day period, which had closed at $65,200. Notably, at the start of the week, analysts were giving bullish signals: CryptoQuant contributor ShayanMarkets pointed to resistance in the $67,000–$72,000 range, while BlackRock spoke of a shift in investor sentiment.
However, the market structure suggested otherwise. Glassnode specialists described the asset's state as "compressed": the price was stuck between the median realized price of $63,000 and the cost basis of short-term holders at $68,700. A break below the lower boundary, in their estimation, opens a direct path to $58,500. By the end of the week, bitcoin had lost 3.3%, settling around $63,000.
Ether slipped 2.1% to $1,880, and the only notable exception among top assets was the HYPE token of the Hyperliquid decentralized exchange, which gained nearly 4.7%. Spot bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest weekly outflow since early July at $398.7 million, while ether funds lost only $2.2 million after a strong inflow the week prior. The Fear and Greed Index remained frozen in the "fear" zone at 34 points.
Miners: A Paradigm Shift Under Economic Pressure
The most significant event of the week was not price dynamics but a structural reversal in the mining industry. Selling bitcoin is no longer a forced measure to cover operating expenses. Four major companies simultaneously directed their proceeds toward building AI infrastructure, signaling a systemic trend.
The transformation of former Bitfarms, now Keel Infrastructure, is telling: it completely decommissioned all mining sites in the U.S., preparing them for AI workload data centers. Riot Platforms acted even faster: signed a 20-year capacity lease agreement with Anthropic worth $9.1 billion, sold 4,300 BTC, and raised up to $573 million for an AI campus in Texas. MARA sold 23,093 BTC for approximately $1.6 billion in the first half of the year, while Hyperscale Data sold 685 BTC for $43 million to fund its own data center.
The economics of mining have indeed become ruthless: miners' fee income fell to a decade low, and the realized hashrate of public companies dropped 21.2% over three quarters. This is not temporary market conditions but a fundamental shift—mining as a business is giving way to high-performance computing.
AI on the Battlefield: Attacks Get Smarter
Neural networks worked on both sides of the barricades this week. On one hand, Bitcoin Red Team, led by Rob Hamilton, lost access to OpenAI tools under a cybersecurity program, forcing the team to return to Chinese models. On the other, the North Korean group Kimsuky is actively using local AI systems to attack crypto companies, while Taiwan revealed details of a hack on government institutions using AI agents.
Particular attention deserves the situation with the non-custodial service Boltz, whose founders handed the project to a group of "bitcoin veterans" after a series of allegedly AI-driven attacks. Meanwhile, the July campaign against Coldcard hardware wallets has concluded: according to Galaxy Research estimates, hackers stole at least 1,778.84 BTC ($112.7 million), and no new incidents have been recorded since August 6. Separately, I note data leaks at Trezor (13,689 users) and SafePal (about 40,000 users)—reputational losses for the industry are becoming systemic.
Russia: Pressure on Exchangers and Banking Compliance
On the evening of August 13, mass searches took place at Moscow's "Gorbushka" shopping center in a case involving crypto exchangers, coinciding with stricter banking compliance. Major Russian banks began requesting explanations from legal entities regarding USDT transactions, demanding confirmation that the counterparty is included in the Central Bank's register of digital currency exchange operators, which does not yet exist—it is only planned to be created in the fall.
Crypto expert Viktor Pershikov rightly linked these checks to banks' logic of self-insurance rather than a direct instruction from the regulator. However, the uncertainty will be short-lived: the law "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights" takes effect on September 1, and the State Duma is already considering a bill on criminal liability for illegal cryptocurrency circulation with confiscation of exchanged assets.
Institutions and Regulation: Light and Shadow
On a positive note: Israel's largest bank, Bank Leumi, announced a partnership with Galaxy Digital for trading bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, while Norway's sovereign wealth fund disclosed a $81.9 million stake in BitMine. However, bitcoin treasuries Strategy and Metaplanet risk losing their place in MSCI indices, and the probability of the Clarity Act passing this year, according to Galaxy Digital estimates, is only 10% after the Senate vote was postponed to September 15.
My comment: Miners moving into AI is not panic but a pragmatic response to the changed economics of mining. But for the market, this is a double signal: reduced hashrate lowers selling pressure, yet simultaneously signals that even the largest players do not see short-term profitability growth in bitcoin. As long as the price remains stuck between $58,500 and $68,700, the market will remain hostage to macroeconomic data and regulatory news.