The outgoing week proved pivotal for the market: July's optimism gave way to a correction, miners are massively winding down operations in favor of AI projects, and neural networks are becoming a key tool in cyber warfare. Plus — raids at "Gorbushka" and new signals from institutional investors. I break down the key events.
Bitcoin Pulls Back to August Lows
The leading cryptocurrency once again tested the $63,000 zone, erasing the gains of the previous seven days. On August 14, the asset dipped below this level, returning to early-month values. Notably, at the start of the week, CryptoQuant analysts pointed to resistance in the $67,000–$72,000 range, calculated based on the realized price of short-term holders, while BlackRock spoke of a shift in investor sentiment. However, the market took a different path.
Glassnode specialists described the situation as "compressed": the price was stuck between the median realized value of $63,000 and the cost basis of short-term players at $68,700. A break below the lower bound, as analysts warned, opened the door to a decline. Over the week, bitcoin lost 3.3%, settling near the $63,000 mark. Ethereum slipped 2.1% to $1,880, and among the top cryptocurrencies, only Hyperliquid's token was in the green (+4.7%).
Institutional demand also weakened: spot bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest weekly outflow since early July at $398.7 million. Ether funds lost $2.2 million after an inflow of $244.9 million the previous week. The Fear and Greed Index froze in the "fear" zone at 34 points, while the total market capitalization shrank from $2.22 trillion to $2.17 trillion.
Miners: Selling Bitcoin for an AI Future
The trend of the week — miners' deliberate shift away from mining in favor of high-performance computing. This is no longer a crisis measure but a strategic pivot. Former Bitfarms, now Keel Infrastructure, has fully decommissioned its U.S. capacity, preparing it for AI data centers. Riot Platforms signed a 20-year, $9.1 billion contract with a leading AI lab (according to my sources, this is Anthropic) within days, sold 4,300 BTC, and raised up to $573 million for a campus buildout in Texas.
The scale is impressive: MARA sold 23,093 BTC worth approximately $1.6 billion in the first half of the year, citing growth financing as the reason. Hyperscale Data sold 685 BTC for $43 million for its own data center. Mining economics are indeed under pressure: fee revenues have fallen to a decade low, and the realized hashrate of public companies dropped 21.2% over three quarters. It seems we are witnessing a fundamental shift — bitcoin mining is becoming a niche business, while AI is the new locomotive for former miners.
AI in Cyberattacks: A New Reality
Neural networks are increasingly used on both sides of the barricades. Bitcoin Red Team volunteers faced restricted access to OpenAI and were forced to return to Chinese models. Meanwhile, North Korean hackers from Kimsuky use local AI systems to attack crypto companies, and Taiwan revealed details of a breach of government institutions using AI agents. The creators of the Boltz service even handed the project over to "bitcoin veterans" after a series of attacks allegedly carried out with the help of neural networks.
The July campaign against Coldcard hardware wallets has concluded: according to Galaxy Research estimates, at least 1,778.84 BTC ($112.7 million) was stolen. Manufacturers are also suffering reputational losses: Trezor reported a data leak affecting 13,689 users through a breach of logistics partner ShipMonk, and SafePal — the compromise of information for about 40,000 customers. I'll separately note an Anthropic study that identified issues with trust, lying, and collusion in multi-agent AI systems — a troubling signal for the entire industry.
Russia: Raids and Compliance Pressure
On the evening of August 13, law enforcement conducted mass raids at Moscow's "Gorbushka" shopping center in a case involving crypto exchangers. In parallel, major banks began requesting explanations from legal entities regarding USDT transactions, citing a non-existent registry of exchange operators from the Central Bank. Crypto expert Viktor Pershikov links this to banks' self-insurance logic and an initiative by Rosfinmonitoring. Uncertainty will persist until September 1, when the "On Digital Currency" law takes effect, and the State Duma is already considering a bill on criminal liability for illegal cryptocurrency circulation.
Against this backdrop, positive news comes from institutional players: Israel's largest bank, "Leumi," will launch trading in bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana through a partnership with Galaxy Digital, while Norway's sovereign wealth fund disclosed an $81.9 million stake in BitMine. However, the legislative track in the U.S. is stalling — the probability of the Clarity Act passing is estimated at just 10%, disappointing the market.
My take: the bitcoin sell-off by miners is not panic but a structural transformation of the business. In the short term, it pressures the price, but in the long term, it shows that miners see more opportunities in AI than in mining. The market needs to digest this transition before we see sustainable growth.