Leopold Aschenbrenner's AI-focused hedge fund, Situational Awareness LP, has seen its assets under management sink to roughly $10 billion after a forced sale wiped out half its value in weeks. The fund sold the bulk of its public stock portfolio to rival trading firm Citadel to meet margin calls, keeping only its private holdings, including a stake in Anthropic worth approximately $5 billion.
Situational Awareness LP's assets under management have sunk to roughly $10 billion, down from over $20 billion it held earlier this year, after margin calls forced Leopold Aschenbrenner's fund to sell the bulk of its public stock portfolio to rival trading firm Citadel. The Ken Griffin-led firm absorbed positions that had been leveraged as high as 4x across AI infrastructure, power, data centers, and Bitcoin miners.
From $225 million to a $20 billion peak
The fund launched in late 2024 with approximately $225 million in seed capital. Aschenbrenner, known for lengthy essays on AI timelines and superintelligence, built a concentrated portfolio of AI-adjacent equities and crypto-mining stocks around that conviction.
Net returns reached approximately 439% through June 2026. AUM climbed past $20 billion, with some reports suggesting peaks near $24 billion. Public equity exposure alone reached between $5.5 billion and $13.7 billion earlier this year.
Margin calls force the sale to Citadel
A significant correction in AI-related equities in July sent the fund's leveraged positions into a rapid decline. Around July 30, the forced sale to Citadel halved the fund's AUM from over $20 billion to roughly $10 billion.
A $5 billion Anthropic bet survives
The liquidation was not total: Situational Awareness kept its private investments, most notably a stake in Anthropic valued at approximately $5 billion, now roughly half of the fund's remaining assets. Aschenbrenner left OpenAI amid reported disagreements over the company's approach to AI safety, and the one holding he retained is a stake in OpenAI's chief rival.
Why crypto investors are watching
Situational Awareness was not purely an AI fund: its portfolio also carried exposure to Bitcoin miners such as Core Scientific and Iris Energy, companies that have repositioned themselves as dual-purpose AI and crypto infrastructure providers while continuing mining operations. A forced sale by a major holder can pressure the sector regardless of underlying fundamentals.
The episode draws comparisons to the 2022 collapse of Three Arrows Capital, which also involved leveraged bets, margin calls, forced liquidations, and contagion. Citadel's absorption of billions in liquidated positions gives it significant influence over the future price action of those assets.
Source: Crypto Briefing
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