Bitcoin extended a week-long slide into the Aug. 15 weekend session, hitting a 10-day low near $62,500 after failing to convert cooling U.S. inflation data into sustained upside. The largest cryptocurrency was trading around $62,812, down about 0.9% over 24 hours and 3.3% for the week, while the total crypto market capitalization stood near $2.245 trillion and BTC dominance slipped to about 56.1%.
The week began with Bitcoin fighting for the $65,000 level after the latest CLARITY Act setback and an unfulfilled U.S.-Iran deal narrative. Weekend trading was flat, and a Monday breakout attempt stalled at $65,400 before sellers pushed BTC to $63,800. Repeated rebounds toward $64,400 failed on Tuesday and Wednesday, even after July’s CPI report matched expectations: headline CPI rose 0.1% month-over-month and 3.4% year-over-year, while core CPI rose 0.2% monthly and 2.5% annually.
The usual post-CPI relief bid did not materialize. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs logged outflows immediately after the inflation print, reversing the roughly $854 million inflow week that opened August. Traders attributed the weakness partly to momentum-sensitive flows rather than macro catalysts. Selling pressure intensified after Strategy, the largest corporate BTC holder, disclosed another disposal of 1,690 BTC for $108.6 million. CEO Phong Le sought to soften the signal, saying the firm plans to resume bitcoin purchases by the end of the year.
Major altcoins were mixed. Ethereum held up slightly better than Bitcoin at about $1,877, down 0.5% on the day and roughly 1.9% for the week. XRP slipped under $1.00 to around $0.9976, a level it had been defending after touching a 21-month low earlier in the week. Cardano was the week’s clear large-cap laggard, down more than 11% over seven days, while Chainlink outperformed with a roughly 9% weekly gain.
Elsewhere, on-chain data showed 90 Bitcoin wallets now hold more than 10,000 BTC, a six-month high that some analysts viewed as accumulation amid weak sentiment. Ripple large wallets increased by 32 over three months despite XRP’s price slide. Trezor confirmed that a logistics partner breach exposed order data for 13,689 hardware wallet customers, while Tether received an unqualified audit opinion from KPMG for its 2025 financials. Rising crypto is dead chatter was flagged as a possible contrarian signal, but with ETF demand cooling, Bitcoin remains stuck between exhausted sellers below and hesitant buyers above, awaiting a fresh catalyst.
