The primary cryptocurrency has experienced another pullback over the past few days.

Potential reasons for the negative performance include the Coldcard exploit, waning institutional interest, and Strategy’s latest sell-off. Here’s everything you need to know.

The Coldcard Drama

Last week, Coinkite, the company behind the Colcard hardware wallet, warned users that their Bitcoin funds could be at risk if their seed phrase was generated on certain affected firmware versions. This alert came shortly after reports that almost $40 million worth of BTC had been drained from such devices.

The attacks continued with two more waves, and at one point the total amount of embezzled coins reached 1,367.05 (equaling around $88.6 million). Alex Thorn (head of firmwide research at Galaxy Digital) spotted a fourth organized wave, saying:

“These are likely Coldcard victims – they match the shape of Coldcard vulnerable UTXOs, and the elevated transaction pattern gives me high confidence they are another wave of attacks.”

He also advised all users to move their funds off their wallets as soon as possible. Somewhat expected, the exploit affected market mood, with Santiment saying it pushed Bitcoin’s positive-to-negative commentary ratio on X, Reddit, Telegram, and other platforms to its lowest level since its modern social tracking began.

The ETF Front

Unlike June, which emerged as the worst month for spot BTC ETFs, July started on the right foot and attracted nearly $200 million in net inflows during the full first week.

Interest faded toward the middle of the month, but it picked up again. In fact, there were seven consecutive green days between July 14 and July 22, something unseen since April. Since then, though, outflows have dominated, while SoSoValue has not yet presented data on how August has kicked off.

Investing in spot BTC ETFs is generally favored by more conservative players, such as pension funds and hedge funds, who seek regulated exposure and would rather skip steps like managing private keys themselves. Some of the financial giants that have introduced such products over the years include BlackRock, Fidelity, Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, and many others.

Strategy Sold Again

Just a few hours ago, Michael Saylor (co-founder and Executive Chairman of Strategy) revealed that the entity has increased its USD Reserve by $250 million and repurchased $81 million of STRC shares.

At first glance, that was it, yet a closer look at the announcement showed that the company has also sold 1,637 BTC for approximately $105 million between July 27 and August 2. After all, its total stash stood at 843,775 coins, while the current number is 842,138 units.

BTC Price Outlook

The aforementioned news has been among the main factors suppressing BTC’s valuation over the past few days. As of this writing, it trades at around $63,600 (per CoinGecko), translating into a 1% weekly decline.

Meanwhile, August can cause even more pain to the bulls. The month has historically been a poor period for the cryptocurrency, with the price ending in red territory 9 out of 13 times.

Source: CryptoPotato