Weekly results: miners are massively moving into AI, bitcoin tests its lows, and hackers are mastering neural networks.
The outgoing week was rich in events: the leading cryptocurrency once again slipped to levels seen at the start of the month, miners are massively converting mined coins into infrastructure for artificial intelligence, and cybercriminals are actively arming themselves with neural networks. I break down the key trends that will shape the market in the coming weeks.
Bitcoin Pulled Back to August Lows
The July momentum has fizzled out. On August 14, the BTC price dropped below $63,000, returning to the lows of the start of the month, even though the previous week closed at $65,200. Notably, signals were the opposite in the first days of the week: CryptoQuant analysts pointed to resistance in the $67,000–$72,000 zone, while BlackRock stated that investor sentiment had turned.
Glassnode specialists describe the market as "compressed": the asset is 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 the path to $58,500. By the end of the week, Bitcoin had settled at $63,000, losing 3.3% over seven days. Ether fell 2.1% to $1,880, and among the top cryptocurrencies, only Hyperliquid's HYPE token was in the green (+4.7%).
Outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs were the largest since early July — $398.7 million. Ether funds lost $2.2 million after an inflow of $244.9 million the week prior. The Fear and Greed Index held at 34 points in the "fear" zone, and the total market capitalization declined from $2.22 trillion to $2.17 trillion.
Miners Retool for AI
The sell-off of mined coins is no longer a crisis response — it is a strategic pivot. Over the week, four companies directed proceeds toward building AI infrastructure rather than covering operating expenses.
Keel Infrastructure (formerly Bitfarms) has fully decommissioned all mining capacity in the U.S., preparing sites for data centers. Riot Platforms completed a full cycle in a matter of days: signed a 20-year contract worth $9.1 billion with a leading AI lab, sold 4,300 BTC, and raised up to $573 million to build an AI campus in Texas. MARA sold 23,093 BTC for $1.6 billion over six months, while Hyperscale Data sold 685 BTC for $43 million.
The reasons are obvious: miners' fee income has fallen to a ten-year low, and the realized hashrate of public companies has dropped by 21.2% over three quarters. The economics of mining no longer justify the costs, and the shift to AI is becoming a matter of survival.
AI in the Hands of Hackers: A New Reality
Cybersecurity faces an asymmetry: defenders are losing access to tools, while attackers are actively using them. AnchorWatch CEO Rob Hamilton said he lost access to OpenAI as part of the Bitcoin Red Team cybersecurity program, after which the team returned to Chinese models.
Meanwhile, South Korean analysts reported that the North Korea-linked group Kimsuky is using local AI systems to attack crypto companies. Taiwanese government agencies also disclosed details of a hack using AI agents. The creators of the Bitcoin service Boltz handed the project over to industry veterans after a series of attacks involving neural networks.
The July campaign against hardware wallets has concluded: at least 1,778.84 BTC ($112.7 million) was stolen from vulnerable Coldcard devices, with no new cases recorded after August 6. At the same time, Trezor and SafePal reported data breaches affecting 13,689 and 40,000 users, respectively.
Russian Realities: Raids and Banking Compliance
Massive raids at "Gorbushka" in connection with a case involving crypto exchangers coincided with tighter banking controls. Major banks have begun requesting explanations from legal entities regarding USDT transactions, demanding confirmation that the counterparty is included in the register of exchange operators, which does not yet exist — the Central Bank plans to create it in the fall.
Crypto expert Viktor Pershikov links the checks to banks' logic of self-insurance and an initiative by Rosfinmonitoring. The law "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights" takes effect on September 1, and the State Duma is considering a bill on criminal liability for illegal cryptocurrency circulation with confiscation.
Institutional Players and Legislation
Israel's largest bank announced a partnership with Galaxy Digital to trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. Norway's sovereign wealth fund disclosed a stake in BitMine worth $81.9 million. Meanwhile, Strategy and Metaplanet may be excluded from MSCI indices, and Galaxy Digital estimates only a 10% probability of the Clarity Act being passed.
My conclusion: the market is in a consolidation phase, but structural changes in mining and the intensification of AI-driven attacks create new risks. Investors should closely monitor the $58,500–$63,000 levels — a break below the lower boundary could trigger a wave of liquidations.