Solo Bitcoin miner nets $200,000 as Coldcard hardware wallet drains rocks sentiment

A solo miner scored a major win even as the broader market frets over a multimillion-dollar Coldcard hardware wallet exploit.

According to mempool data, an independent miner successfully packaged block 960,804 early Monday. The block reward of 3.157 BTC is valued at approximately $199,300. Details on the specific hardware used remain unknown.

The success came just three weeks after another solo miner, running a single hobbyist-grade Bitaxe device, struck block 957,382, pocketing 3.1382 BTC, worth roughly $200,000 at the time.

These back-to-back wins highlight a broader trend. Solo miners have already claimed 13 blocks this year. While individual operators continue to defy the odds with relatively modest setups, the wider Bitcoin mining sector has come under stress due to tight margins. That has prompted several large mining companies to pivot toward artificial intelligence data centers and related infrastructure in search of sustainability.

Meanwhile, small BTC holders continue to express frustration over the Coldcard incident, which has led to the loss of long-held Bitcoin savings. Over the weekend, onchain data showed signs of some BTC holders moving millions of dollars worth of coins to exchanges.

The number of BTC sending addresses spiked on Friday to levels not seen since early 2024, according to CryptoQuant. The BTC exchange reserve has risen to 2.718 million BTC from 2.706 million BTC on July 30, the day the incident began.

Other analytics firms argue that holders are moving coins to other wallets rather than exchanges. “The data indicates holders are migrating their coins to new wallets rather than sending to exchanges,” Glassnode said.

Finally, rising Treasury yields, including mortgage rates, pose a potential headwind to risk assets, including cryptocurrencies.

On the regulatory front, the news is equally uninspiring. Reports say the Senate left the Clarity Act off Monday’s agenda. With the chamber’s summer recess set to begin around Aug. 10, that leaves just five days of scheduled session time remaining before lawmakers depart. Stay alert!

Read more: For analysis of today’s activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today . For a comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”

• Coldcard wallet losses may near $114 million as possible fourth sweep emerges (CoinDesk): A fourth wave of sweeps against bitcoin addresses generated by the Coldcard wallet began Monday and was still running hours later. However, this time transactions can be overridden while they sit unconfirmed, according to researchers.
• The bitcoin futures yield collapse: Once over 20%, now less than Treasury notes (CoinDesk): Once a goldmine for carry traders, bitcoin futures have flipped. They consistently yielded 20% or more across crypto exchanges, a figure that’s dropped to 3%, compared with two-year U.S. Treasuries’ 3.8%
• Gold gains as US dollar declines, hopes of Mideast deal hit oil (Reuters): Gold prices gained on ‌Monday as the dollar weakened and optimism over a possible U.S.-Iran agreement sent oil prices sharply lower, tempering inflation fears and expectations of prolonged high interest rates.
• Iran’s foreign ministry contradicts Trump and says no negotiations taking place with US (euronews): Iran’s Foreign Ministry contradicted President Donald Trump, who said negotiations would start Monday. According to the ministry there were no meetings planned with the U.S. Teheran said talks were under way with Oman over the management of the Strait of Hormuz.

The chart shows bitcoin’s weekly price movements in candlestick format with key simple moving averages overlaid. The red and white lines represent 50- and 100-week averages and the yellow line indicates the 200-week average.

The 200-week simple moving average (SMA) is being closely tracked by Strategy, the world’s largest publicly listed bitcoin holder. The firm notes that BTC has tended to trade above this long-term average for most of its history.

That’s not the case right now, though, with the price holding at a discount to the average, sending bearish signals. The recent bearish cross of the 50- and 100-week moving averages further confirms a strong downtrend. Put simply, the path of least resistance remains to the downside.