Gold Hits Nine-Week Highs As Bitcoin Drops Into US CPI Data Release

Galaxy Research said 90% of the stolen Bitcoin remains unmoved as investigators examine a suspected fourth wave that could lift losses to $130 million.

Confirmed losses from the Coldcard wallet incident have exceeded $100 million, with 1,596 Bitcoin (BTC) stolen from about 7,300 addresses across three separate major attack waves and 14 smaller incidents, according to a new update from Galaxy Research.

On Monday, Galaxy Digital’s research arm said 73 victims had contacted its researchers, and victim reports confirmed the first three major attacks, helping investigators identify smaller “footprints” that Galaxy said could represent opportunistic attackers exploiting the vulnerability.

Galaxy Research also identified a suspected fourth wave that could bring total losses to 2,055 BTC, worth about $130 million. However, Galaxy said it excluded the event from its confirmed estimate because it had not yet received confirmation from victims believed to be part of that wave. The research group said with “medium-high” confidence that the wave largely represented attacker activity.

Galaxy said 90% of the stolen Bitcoin had not been moved, including funds attributed to the first three confirmed incidents. Attacker and victim addresses have been shared with US federal law enforcement, crypto exchanges and cyber-investigation companies, according to Galaxy Research.

The new findings raise Galaxy’s confirmed estimate from the 1,367 BTC traced across 4,585 addresses, which it published on Saturday. Galaxy warned that attacks were ongoing and urged uncertain Coldcard users to migrate their funds to a safe address immediately.

Bitcoin price action sank to one-week lows ahead of US CPI data, while retail investors piled into gold ETFs and XAU/USD hit its highest levels in nine weeks.

Bitcoin (BTC) headed lower around Tuesday’s Wall Street open as investors’ appetite for gold sent the precious metal to nine-week highs.

Key points:

• Bitcoin takes a backseat as gold steals the limelight climbing to $4,435 per ounce.
• Analysis eyes the Bitcoin-gold positive correlation still in place.
• Key resistance near $66,000 keeps BTC price action in check ahead of the US CPI inflation print.

Retail investors pile into gold ETFs

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD abandoning a low-timeframe rebound to drop back below $64,000.

The pair finished down 1.5% on Monday thanks to concerns over the US-Iran war and the latest impasse over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz oil route. US stocks tracked sideways amid a fresh 5% surge in oil prices.

As uncertainty grew, new data showed increasing demand for safe haven gold, which hit $4,435 per ounce on Tuesday, its highest level since June 5. Chinese appetites for the precious metal were already on the radar in August.

Trading resource The Kobeissi Letter highlighted particular interest from the retail sector — currently a key missing component in crypto markets. NYSE ARCA-traded SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) exchange-traded fund attracted daily retail inflows of $50 million on Aug. 5 — the highest single-day tally since mid-March for the largest US physical gold-backed ETF product. The day’s total inflow was $637 million, while the US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw a combined inflow of $244.4 million.

“So far in August, investors have added +$1.4 billion to $GLD, putting the ETF on track for its first monthly inflow since February. Investor appetite for gold is back,” Kobeissi Letter said in a post on X.

Despite lackluster August BTC price performance, the biggest crypto retained its positive correlation to gold on a 90-day rolling basis, data from onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant showed. “Bitcoin–gold correlation is back to digital-gold-era levels,” CEO Ki Young Ju wrote as an annotation to his data infographics on X.

Familiar BTC price resistance in place as CPI nears

Within low time frames, BTC/USD continued to be contained by a long-term trend line, the 50-month exponential moving average (EMA) at $65,827.

As Cointelegraph reported, this coincided with an area of potential short liquidations. Since the start of June, the pair has managed just three daily closes above the 50-month EMA.

That’s leading market participants to maintain their monitoring of the zone below $66,000 as rangebound behavior continued.

“It’s still stuck in this range, meaning that this recent correction was most likely just a liquidity grab from leveraged longs being positioned in the markets. Consolidation here, and preferably a slight bounce upwards to $64,500 would trigger that we’re not continuing the cascade,” trader and analyst Michaël van de Poppe told X followers on Tuesday.

“If there’s a breakout above $65,800, the likelihood of running to $73,000 is there.”