Weekly results: bitcoin dropped to $63,000, miners are massively shifting to AI, and hackers are mastering neural networks.
The outgoing week was rich in events: the leading cryptocurrency pulled back to August lows, miners continued large-scale sell-offs to pivot toward AI infrastructure, and neural networks became a key tool for both attacks and defense. Plus, Moscow law enforcement struck a blow against cash cryptocurrency exchanges.
Bitcoin stuck in a "compressed" zone
July's upward momentum fizzled out. On August 14, the price of bitcoin broke through the $63,000 level, returning to early-month values, although the previous week closed at $65,200. In the first half of the week, signals were different: analysts pointed to resistance in the $67,000 and $72,000 zones, while BlackRock spoke of a shift in investor sentiment and the final decoupling of the asset's dynamics from the stock market.
However, Glassnode experts warned of a pullback risk, describing the market as "compressed": the price is squeezed 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, according to their forecasts, opened the path to $58,500. In the end, bitcoin settled at $63,000, losing 3.3% over seven days. Ether fell 2.1% to $1,880, and only Hyperliquid's HYPE token showed growth of nearly 4.7%.
Institutional demand also weakened: spot bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest weekly outflow since early July at $398.7 million, while ether funds lost $2.2 million after an inflow of $244.9 million the week prior. The Fear and Greed Index froze at 34, remaining in the "fear" zone, and the total market capitalization declined from $2.22 trillion to $2.17 trillion.
Miners trade bitcoin for AI
Sales of mined coins are no longer an anti-crisis measure—this is a strategic pivot. Over the week, four public companies directed the proceeds toward building AI infrastructure. Former Bitfarms, now Keel Infrastructure, fully decommissioned its mining capacity in the US, preparing sites for high-performance computing data centers.
Riot Platforms completed this journey at record speed: on August 11, the company signed a 20-year capacity lease contract with an AI lab worth $9.1 billion, then sold 4,300 BTC, and on the 15th raised up to $573 million for building an AI campus in Texas. MARA sold 23,093 BTC between January and June for approximately $1.6 billion, while Hyperscale Data sold 685 BTC for $43 million to fund its own data center.
The economics of mining explain this trend: miners' revenue from fees fell to a ten-year low, and the realized hashrate of public companies dropped by 21.2% over three quarters. This is not a temporary measure but a fundamental shift—the industry is rethinking its business model.
AI serving hackers and defenders
Neural networks are becoming an indispensable tool on both sides of the barricades. Volunteers of Bitcoin Red Team faced restricted access to OpenAI and were forced to return to Chinese models. Meanwhile, attackers face no such problems: South Korean analysts reported that the North Korea-linked group Kimsuky uses local AI systems to attack cryptocurrency companies, and Taiwanese authorities revealed details of a hack on government institutions using AI agents.
The founders of the non-custodial service Boltz handed the project to a group of "bitcoin veterans" after a series of attacks allegedly carried out using neural networks. Meanwhile, July's campaign against Coldcard hardware wallets has concluded: according to Galaxy Research estimates, attackers stole at least 1,778.84 BTC ($112.7 million), and no new incidents have been recorded since August 6. However, reputational losses continue: Trezor reported a data leak affecting 13,689 users through a logistics partner, and SafePal reported the compromise of information for approximately 40,000 clients.
Pressure on exchangers and uncertainty in Russia
On the evening of August 13, mass searches were conducted at Moscow's Gorbushka shopping center in a case involving crypto exchangers. This coincided with stricter banking compliance: major Russian banks began requiring corporate clients to confirm that a 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 experts link this to banks' logic of self-insurance and an initiative by Rosfinmonitoring. The uncertainty will not last long: 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. In parallel, in Kyiv, the head of the NSSMC called for not pushing crypto businesses abroad, warning of risks to the legal economy.
Institutional players and legislation
Israel's largest bank announced a partnership with Galaxy Digital for trading bitcoin, ether, and Solana, while Norway's sovereign wealth fund disclosed an $81.9 million stake in BitMine. However, bitcoin treasuries risk losing their place in MSCI indices, and the likelihood of the Clarity Act passing in the US is estimated at only 10% after the Senate vote was postponed to September 15.
My view: the mass exodus of miners into AI is not just diversification but an acknowledgment that bitcoin mining under current conditions has become insufficiently profitable for public companies. This could lead to further consolidation of hashrate in the hands of large players, which in the long term carries risks for the network's decentralization. Pressure on cash exchanges in Russia, in turn, will only accelerate the shift to gray schemes until the regulator creates working mechanisms.