Citadel buys bulk of Situational Awareness stock portfolio after AI rout: Reports

cointelegraphPublished on 2026-07-31Last updated on 2026-07-31

Abstract

Citadel, founded by Ken Griffin, purchased a significant portion of the public stock portfolio from hedge fund Situational Awareness, founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner. The deal followed heavy losses for Situational in July's AI stock market downturn, with reports indicating the fund fell approximately 67% that month, though it remained up about 80% for the year. Situational reportedly needed capital to meet margin calls and initially agreed to sell $3.5 billion of Anthropic shares before withdrawing from that deal. The fund's holdings, which included stocks like Sandisk, CoreWeave, and Bloom Energy that saw steep July declines, as well as positions in several Bitcoin mining companies, suffered during the rout. The specific stocks involved in the Citadel transaction are unclear. Situational Awareness is named after Aschenbrenner's essay series predicting artificial general intelligence by 2027.

Ken Griffin’s Citadel reportedly bought a large proportion of the public stock portfolio of Situational Awareness, the hedge fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner.

The Financial Times first reported Thursday that Citadel bought the discounted portfolio after heavy losses during July’s artificial intelligence stock market rout.

The transaction followed Aschenbrenner’s fund falling about 67% in July, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing a person who saw a letter sent to investors. The letter said the fund remained up about 80% for the year. The Financial Times previously reported the fund was up 439% through June.

Those reports suggested Situational had approached existing investors and lenders for fresh capital and offered some investors the option to buy portfolio assets. The Journal also reported Situational needed cash to meet margin calls from its lenders and that the fund agreed late Wednesday to sell $3.5 billion of Anthropic shares to a group led by Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital before withdrawing from the deal Thursday morning.

Reuters separately reported the leveraged-portfolio detail but said it could not determine whether formal margin calls had been issued before the sale. Reuters said Situational retained roughly $10 billion in stocks and private investments, including Anthropic.

AI holdings suffered steep July falls

Several stocks linked to the fund suffered sharp declines in July. Sandisk remained down about 44% for the month even after closing Thursday up 26%. CoreWeave fell nearly 26% in July, while Bloom Energy was down around 32%, Yahoo Finance data shows.

Related: Former OpenAI researcher foresees AGI reality in 2027

Situational’s US Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed direct share positions in all three companies as of March 31.

The same filing showed about $1.11 billion in shares of seven Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies, including Iren, Core Scientific, Riot Platforms and CleanSpark. Cointelegraph previously reported that the positions gave Situational exposure to miners expanding into AI and high-performance computing by repurposing their power supplies and data center sites.

It remains unclear what stocks were part of the transaction between Citadel and Situational or whether the fund retained any of its Bitcoin miner positions.

Related: Bitcoin miner Core Scientific shifts to AI with 1.5GW data center push

Aschenbrenner’s fund takes its name from his 2024 essay series, “Situational Awareness: The Decade Ahead,” which argued that artificial general intelligence could arrive by 2027 and drive enormous demand for computing power and electricity.

Before joining OpenAI, Aschenbrenner was a member of the FTX Future Fund’s five-person team and signed its November 2022 resignation notice as FTX collapsed.

Cointelegraph contacted Situational Awareness and Citadel for comment but had not received a response by publication.

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Related Questions

QWhat major financial transaction did Citadel reportedly engage in with the hedge fund Situational Awareness?

ACitadel reportedly bought a large proportion of the public stock portfolio of the hedge fund Situational Awareness after heavy losses during July's AI stock market rout.

QWho founded the hedge fund Situational Awareness, and what was his background?

ASituational Awareness was founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, who was previously a member of the FTX Future Fund's five-person team.

QWhy did Situational Awareness need to sell assets, according to reports?

AAccording to reports, Situational Awareness needed cash to meet margin calls from its lenders following heavy losses in July, which led to the sale of its portfolio to Citadel and an attempted sale of Anthropic shares.

QWhat significant prediction about Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is associated with Leopold Aschenbrenner's essay series?

AIn his 2024 essay series 'Situational Awareness: The Decade Ahead,' Leopold Aschenbrenner argued that artificial general intelligence (AGI) could arrive by 2027, driving enormous demand for computing power and electricity.

QBesides AI stocks, what other type of companies did Situational Awareness have major holdings in as of March 31, according to its SEC filing?

AAccording to its March 31 SEC filing, Situational Awareness held about $1.11 billion in shares of seven Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies, including Iren, Core Scientific, Riot Platforms, and CleanSpark.

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