Bitcoin and Ethereum tested peak levels. Qubic organized a 51% attack on Monero. The US has ruled out cryptographic reserve restocking with federal funds. Turkish exchange Btcturk lost $48 million. And other events this week.
Up and down
The last seven days have been the volatility of digital assets. First we climbed quickly and then an equally active fall.
The first cryptocurrency opened on Monday for $118,000. That day it rose to $122,000 before returning to morning levels. From Tuesday through Wednesday, Bitcoin traded between $118,000 and $120,000.
Overnight on August 14th, Digital Gold set a new all-time high of over $124,000, but was revised almost immediately, dropping to $117,000.
At the time of writing, the BTC trade was $118,100.
Ether tracks Bitcoin all week, giving it a shallower drawdown. At its peak, the second-largest cryptocurrency was short on under $100 of its ~$4,880 record.
The rise came with a large influx of money to spot ether ETFs from August 5th to 14th. Receipts reached a record $2.8 billion. However, on Friday, the product lost $60 million amid a pullback in the broader market.
ETH currently trades around $4,500. Weekly gain is 8.3% against Bitcoin close range prints.
BNB has set up a new ATH for $867, surpassing Bitcoin. It rose 7.4% per week, including pullbacks.
At the same time, Solana broke over $205. Currently, just below that psychological level, it has increased by 6.7% over seven days.
Crypto’s total market capitalization holds a touch above $4TRN. Bitcoin’s advantage fell to 57.4%.
The Crypto Fear-Greed Index went to 62, curbing optimism among investors.
Monero under the siege
This week, the 51% attack promised by Qubic was demonstrated. On August 12th, the mining pool seized most of the network’s hashrate.
The initiators elicited a reorganization of the large blocks. Under control, Qubic rewrites transaction history and implements double spending and censorship operations.
Ledger CTO Charles Guillemet spent the daily expense to maintain such an attack for $75 million.
At the time of writing, Qubic still controls a significant percentage of Monero’s hashrate, but this figure has fallen to 32.3%. The next largest pool accounts for 21.5%.
The developers have urged the community to turn on their own mining rigs to “enhance security.”
Launch Miners to support Monero Network and enhance security! https://t.co/axxowhhy0m
– Monero (XMR) (@monero) August 16, 2025
In a conversation with Forklog, HyperFusion co-founder and CIO Alex Petrov said that Monero attacks do not harm the network. In his view, it looked like a PR exercise for Qubic.
The platform significantly increased the prices of profiles and tokens, but Monero’s network did not suffer material losses, experts noted.
“51% is the theoretical figure for paper. A hashrate of at least 75-80% is required to block, with censorship transactions exceeding 90%. Double spending attacks are even more difficult, the co-founder explained.
Despite this, Monero suffered reputational damage. In the attack, Kraken Exchange temporarily stopped the XMR deposits and cited the “potential threat to integrity” of the blockchain.
Tokens also fell after the incident began, but have recovered to 9% in the past 24 hours.
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Not a cent to buy
One reason for the slump from Thursday to Friday was a statement by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent regarding the country’s crypto-protected zoning. He set three principles for the Trump administration’s digital asset strategy:
There are no public funds to purchase new Bitcoin. It has already accumulated 198,022 BTC retention. Reserves are replenished with only assets seized in criminal and civil cases.
“We are not going to sell these assets. At current prices, the Bitcoin Reserve is worth between $15 billion and $200 billion,” Bescent said.
He later revealed that the Treasury is studying budget-neutral methods to acquire Bitcoin to expand its holdings.
The statement coincided with producer price data showing that the 3.3% year-on-year rise since February (highest since February) is also putting pressure on the market.
Attack on Türkiye’s Exchange
On August 14th, Btcturk, one of Turkey’s biggest crypto exchanges, suspended its membership and deposits after detecting suspicious activity.
Security researchers have tracked the major leaks of crypto assets from the platform’s hot wallets. The total loss is estimated at approximately $48 million.
The attackers almost immediately began to exchange stolen funds for ether.
Btcturk reported a suspicious transaction and moved quickly after halting the operation. The company said the majority of its assets are safe. Transactions and LIRA operations remained open.
Btcturk was already hacked in June 2024, losing about $54 million. Of that, $5.3 million was frozen thanks to Binance.
Another victim last week lost 58.2 BTC (~$7 million) on Odin.Fun, the Bitcoin Network’s Memocoin platform. The community suggested that attackers use collateral operations exploits.
Co-founder Bob Body Body confirmed the violation and warned the Treasury that it lacked sufficient funds to cover the losses of users.
Forklog:
The S&P Global Assessment was the first to evaluate the Defi protocol. Nvidia has announced an AI toolkit for robots. In Kazakhstan, trading began with Central Asia’s first Bitcoin ETF. Gomining predicts new hype cycles around Bitcoin mining.
Legal Affairs
Two well-known code figures appeared on the other side before the American courts.
On August 12, Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs, pleaded guilty to criminal charges of fraud and conspiracy and apologised for his actions.
“I made a false and misleading statement. I didn’t reveal the role of the trading company in restoring the pegs. What I did was wrong,” he said.
Kwon waived his right to a ju trial and confirmed with the court that he understands he faces up to 25 years in prison.
He made a plea deal with Manhattan prosecutors, but agreed to seek no more than 12 years if the government accepts responsibility. Judge Paul Engelmeyer noted that he could still pose a long sentence because he was not bound by the agreement.
It was also revealed that Tron founder Justin Sun filed a lawsuit against Bloomberg in federal court in Delaware, accusing the media company of violating the agreement and planning to reveal details of his assets.
In February, the team of entrepreneurs was included in the rankings of the world’s wealthiest people. Sun hesitated, but after guaranteeing that files containing the crypto-woven addresses “do not leave the office”, they can only access a small Bloomberg circle.
He claims now that the newsroom is planning to release the data soon. He seeks permanent injunctions, ju trials and reimbursement of legal fees on the publication.
The complaint cites Bloomberg’s material on the wrench attack. This is a case of physical violence used to force the transfer of code.
What else should I read?
With Ilya Perevalov, technical expert at Roskomsvoboda, we will discuss the level of vacuum in Runet and the global internet, as well as how enthusiasts use mesh networks in real-world conditions.
We consider why Salomon Brothers’ attempts to declare inactive addresses “no owner” threaten cryptocurrency principles.
Balaji Srinivasan, creator of the concept of network states, said “the collapse of the West”, the victory of Bitcoin, and the global economy is moving towards Asia.
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