Ashenbrenner's Fund Lost Most of Its Stock Portfolio
Former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner's hedge fund, Situational Awareness, was forced to sell the majority of its public stock portfolio on July 30 after sustaining heavy losses. The portfolio, estimated at up to $16 billion, was purchased at a discount by Citadel, Ken Griffin’s firm. The rapid sale was triggered by a dual market shock: a sharp decline in the fund's concentrated bets on AI infrastructure stocks (like Nebius Group, Sandisk, Micron, CoreWeave) and losses from short positions on software firms like Adobe. The fund had used significant leverage, and falling share prices prompted margin calls from prime brokers including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase. This came just weeks after the fund reported staggering gains of 439% for the first half of the year. Following the sale, the fund retains approximately $10 billion in assets, including a stake in AI company Anthropic, which was reportedly not part of the Citadel deal. Notably, major bitcoin mining stocks held by the fund—including IREN, Bitdeer, and Riot Platforms—surged 18-30% on the day of the sale.
cryptonews.ruKemarin 12:44