Week of downtrend: miners flee to AI, and hackers master neural networks
The outgoing week proved challenging for the market: bitcoin erased July's rally, miners continued a large-scale sell-off of coins to finance AI projects, and neural networks have firmly established themselves in the arsenal of cybercriminals. In addition, law enforcement in Moscow reminded us of their presence, while institutional investors continue to cautiously increase their footprint.
Bitcoin retreated to August lows
On August 14, the leading cryptocurrency fell below $63,000, effectively returning to levels from the start of the month, although last week's close was at $65,200. The start of the period showed promise: CryptoQuant analysts even flagged resistance at $67,000 and $72,000, while BlackRock spoke of a shift in sentiment. However, the market found itself squeezed between the median price of $63,000 and the short-term holders' cost basis of $68,700, and a break below the lower bound, as Glassnode warned, opened the path to declines.
The week's result: minus 3.3% for BTC and a hold near $63,000. Ethereum slipped 2.1% to $1,880, and among major altcoins, only the Hyperliquid token was in positive territory (+4.7%). Spot bitcoin ETFs saw their largest weekly outflow since early July at $398.7 million, while ether funds lost $2.2 million. The Fear and Greed Index stalled at 34, and market capitalization fell from $2.22 trillion to $2.17 trillion.
Miners are swapping mining for AI
The week's trend: selling bitcoin not for survival, but for business restructuring. Former Bitfarms (now Keel Infrastructure) fully decommissioned all its U.S. capacity, preparing sites for data centers. Riot Platforms signed a $9.1 billion contract with an AI lab within days, sold 4,300 BTC, and raised up to $573 million for a Texas campus build-out. MARA sold 23,093 BTC worth $1.6 billion over six months, and Hyperscale Data added another 685 BTC.
Mining economics are indeed under pressure: fee revenues have fallen to a decade low, and the hashrate of public companies has dropped 21.2% over three quarters. This is a structural shift that will intensify pressure on the price in the medium term.
AI — a double-edged sword for cybersecurity
Both defenders and attackers are actively using neural networks. Bitcoin Red Team hit OpenAI's restrictions and returned to Chinese models, while North Korean hackers Kimsuky are using local AI to attack crypto companies. Taiwanese government agencies also suffered attacks using AI agents, and the Boltz project was handed over to a new team after a series of similar incidents.
Meanwhile, the campaign against Coldcard hardware wallets has ended: damages are estimated at 1,778.84 BTC ($112.7 million). However, reputational losses continue — data leaks affected 13,689 Trezor users and about 40,000 SafePal users. Notably, Anthropic confirmed that multi-agent systems are prone to collusion and deception.
Russia: raids and compliance turbulence
Massive raids at "Gorbushka" in connection with the crypto exchange case coincided with stricter banking requirements. Major banks began asking legal entities to confirm that counterparties are included in a non-existent Central Bank registry. As I noted earlier, this is more about banks self-insuring ahead of the "On Digital Currency" law taking effect on September 1, and possible confiscation for illegal circulation.
Institutionals and legislation
Bank Leumi is launching crypto trading through a partnership with Galaxy Digital, and Norway's sovereign wealth fund disclosed an $81.9 million stake in BitMine. However, the Clarity Act is stalling — the probability of passage is estimated at only 10%, which is cooling market enthusiasm.
My takeaway: the market is consolidating in anticipation of a catalyst. Miners shifting to AI is a long-term factor that could reduce sell pressure, but in the short term it adds volatility. Investors should closely watch the $63,000 level — losing it would open the path to $58,500.