Crypto news

The outgoing week was marked by several tectonic shifts at once: Bitcoin miners are mass-selling their reserves to pivot to AI infrastructure, cybercriminals are actively arming themselves with neural networks, and regulators worldwide are tightening their grip. We break down the key events.

Bitcoin Pulled Back to August Lows

The July momentum has fizzled out. On August 14, the leading cryptocurrency fell below $63,000, returning to levels seen at the start of the month. This is a sharp contrast to the previous week's close at $65,200. Early in the week, the market showed promise: CryptoQuant contributor ShayanMarkets pointed to resistance in the $67,000 and $72,000 zones, calculated based on the realized price of short-term holders, while BlackRock spoke of a shift in investor sentiment.

However, Glassnode analysts described 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 bound, they said, opens the path to $58,500. The forecast came true — by the end of the week, Bitcoin had settled near $63,000, losing 3.3% over seven days. Ether slipped 2.1% to $1,880, and among major altcoins, only Hyperliquid's HYPE 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. The Fear and Greed Index stalled in the "fear" zone at 34 points, while the total market capitalization fell from $2.22 trillion to $2.17 trillion.

Miners Fund the AI Race by Selling BTC

Selling mined coins is no longer a crisis measure — it's a survival strategy. Over the week, four major companies directed the proceeds toward building AI infrastructure. Former Bitfarms, now Keel Infrastructure, fully decommissioned all its mining capacity in the US, preparing sites for data centers for high-performance computing. Riot Platforms signed a 20-year, $9.1 billion contract with a leading AI lab (according to my data, this is Anthropic) within days, sold 4,300 BTC, and raised up to $573 million to build an AI campus in Texas.

The scale is striking: MARA sold 23,093 BTC in the first half of the year for approximately $1.6 billion, citing the financing of operations and liquidity management. Hyperscale Data joined the list, selling 685 BTC for $43 million to fund its own data center. The mining economy is indeed cracking at the seams: miners' revenue from fees has fallen to a decade low, and the realized hash rate of public companies has dropped by 21.2% over three quarters.

Neural Networks — Weapons on Both Sides of the Barricades

Artificial intelligence has become a full-fledged participant in cyber warfare. AnchorWatch CEO Rob Hamilton said his Bitcoin Red Team team lost access to OpenAI tools the very next day after joining the cybersecurity program, forced to fall back on Chinese models. Meanwhile, attackers face no such restrictions: South Korean analysts at Genians reported that the North Korea-linked Kimsuky group is actively using local AI systems to attack crypto companies. Taiwanese government agencies also revealed details of a hack using AI agents.

Particular attention deserves the incident with the Bitcoin service Boltz, whose founders handed the project over to a group of "veterans" after a series of attacks allegedly carried out using neural networks. Notably, the July campaign against Coldcard hardware wallets has concluded: Galaxy Research calculated that hackers stole at least 1,778.84 BTC ($112.7 million), but no new cases have been recorded since August 6. Manufacturers are also bearing reputational losses: Trezor reported a data leak affecting 13,689 users through a breach at a logistics partner, and SafePal reported the compromise of information for about 40,000 customers.

Russian Realities: Raids and a Nonexistent Registry

On the evening of August 13, mass searches took place at Moscow's Gorbushka shopping center in a case involving crypto exchangers. Pressure on cash exchange coincided with tighter bank compliance: major banks began requesting explanations from legal entities regarding USDT transactions, demanding confirmation that the counterparty is included in the Central Bank's registry of digital currency exchange operators. The problem is that such a registry does not yet exist — it is only planned to be created in the fall. As crypto expert Viktor Pershikov rightly notes, this is the logic of banks' self-insurance rather than a direct instruction from the regulator, but he sees no legal risks in requirements for something that does not yet exist.

The uncertainty won't last long: the law "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights" takes effect on September 1, while the State Duma is simultaneously considering a bill on criminal and administrative liability for the illegal circulation of cryptocurrencies with confiscation. Notably, Kyiv has also begun talking about risks: NSCPFR head Oleksii Semeniuk warned that excessive regulation would push crypto businesses abroad.

Institutions Advance, but Legislation Stalls

Amid miners' sell-offs, institutional investors continue entering the market. Israel's largest bank, Bank Leumi, announced a partnership with Galaxy Digital for trading Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. Norway's sovereign wealth fund disclosed an $81.9 million stake in BitMine. However, the legislative track has slowed: Galaxy Digital estimates the probability of the Clarity Act passing at just 10% after the Senate postponed the procedural vote to September 15.

My take: Miners' shift to AI is not panic but a pragmatic response to structurally declining profitability. However, the sell-off of reserves adds additional pressure on the price in the short term. In the long run, this could lead to hash rate consolidation in the hands of major players, which will inevitably raise questions about network decentralization. We'll keep watching developments.