Crypto news

The outgoing week was marked by a tectonic shift in the strategy of the largest bitcoin miners, who are massively converting mined coins into the foundation for AI infrastructure. In parallel, the market for the first cryptocurrency rolled back to August lows, and cyberspace demonstrated that neural networks have become a universal weapon—both for attacks and defense.

Bitcoin: Return to the Uncertainty Zone

July's optimism faded: on August 14, the first cryptocurrency fell below the $63,000 mark, returning to levels from the start of the month. The week closed down 3.3%, sharply contrasting with the previous seven-day rise to $65,200.

The analytical picture paints a market in a state of severe compression. The upper boundary at $68,700 (short-term holders' cost basis) and the lower at $63,000 (median realized price) have formed a trap for the price. A break below the lower boundary, by my calculations, opens a direct path to $58,500—a level that will be a critical test for bulls.

Institutional demand is also showing cooling: spot bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest weekly outflow since early July—$398.7 million. Ethereum funds lost $2.2 million after a strong inflow last week. The fear and greed index froze in the "fear" zone at 34 points, and the total market capitalization slipped to $2.17 trillion.

Miners: Bitcoin as Fuel for the AI Era

The key trend of the week is miners' deliberate abandonment of mined coins in favor of building AI data centers. This is no longer a crisis-driven sell-off, but a strategic restructuring of the business.

Keel Infrastructure (formerly Bitfarms) has fully decommissioned its U.S. capacity, preparing sites for high-performance computing. Riot Platforms went through the entire cycle in a few days: first a 20-year contract with Anthropic worth $9.1 billion, then the sale of 4,300 BTC and raising $573 million for a Texas AI campus. MARA sold 23,093 BTC for $1.6 billion over six months, and Hyperscale Data added another 685 coins to that.

The economics of mining dictate their own terms: fee revenues have fallen to a ten-year low, and the hashrate of public companies has declined by 21.2% over three quarters. This is not just adaptation—it is a fundamental rethinking of the miner's role in the new technological paradigm.

AI on the Battlefield: Attacks and Defense

The week showed that neural networks have become an equally valuable tool for both sides of cyber conflicts. The North Korean group Kimsuky is actively using local AI systems against crypto companies, and Taiwanese government agencies were hacked using AI agents.

Notable is the incident with Bitcoin Red Team: volunteers testing infrastructure lost access to OpenAI under the cybersecurity program and were forced to return to Chinese models. This demonstrates the fragility of Western AI tools in the hands of defenders.

Data leaks deserve special attention: Trezor reported the compromise of information for 13,689 users, and SafePal—about 40,000. Meanwhile, Galaxy Research calculated that hackers extracted at least 1,777.84 BTC ($112.7 million) from vulnerable Coldcards, with no new cases recorded after August 6.

Regulatory Pressure in Russia and Institutional Entry

Moscow security forces conducted mass raids at "Gorbushka" in a case involving crypto exchangers, coinciding with stricter banking compliance. Large banks have begun requesting explanations from legal entities regarding USDT transactions, citing a non-existent registry of exchange operators from the Central Bank. This is a classic case of banks self-insuring in anticipation of the "Digital Currency" law, which takes effect on September 1.

Against this backdrop, institutions continue their entry: Israel's largest bank will open trading in bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana through a partnership with Galaxy Digital, and Norway's sovereign wealth fund disclosed a stake in BitMine worth $81.9 million. However, the legislative track in the U.S. is stalling: the probability of passing the Clarity Act is estimated at only 10%.

My analysis: The strategic pivot of miners to AI is not a temporary measure, but an acknowledgment that traditional mining has ceased to be a hyper-profitable business. However, the mass sell-off of BTC creates additional pressure on the market in the short term. Investors should prepare for volatility in the coming weeks, but the long-term shift to AI infrastructure could become a new growth driver for the companies themselves, not for the price of bitcoin.