Leopold Aschenbrenner’s hedge fund, Situational Awareness LP, has seen its assets under management crater to roughly $10 billion after being forced to liquidate the bulk of its public stock portfolio to meet margin calls. The fund, which had ballooned to over $20 billion in AUM by mid-2026, was running leveraged positions as high as 4x in AI infrastructure, power, data centers, and Bitcoin miners when the market turned against it.
From $225 million to $20 billion, then back down
Situational Awareness LP launched in late 2024 with approximately $225 million in seed capital. Aschenbrenner, who had gained a following for his lengthy essays on AI timelines and superintelligence, channeled that intellectual conviction into a concentrated portfolio of AI-adjacent equities and crypto mining stocks.
The fund reported net returns of approximately 439% through June 2026, with AUM climbing past $20 billion and some reports suggesting peaks near $24 billion. Public equity exposure alone hit between $5.5 billion and $13.7 billion earlier this year.
A significant correction in AI-related equities in July sent the fund’s leveraged positions into freefall. Around July 30, Situational Awareness liquidated the bulk of its public stock portfolio to Citadel, the Ken Griffin-led trading firm. The forced sale effectively halved the fund’s AUM from over $20 billion to roughly $10 billion.
What’s left: a $5 billion Anthropic bet
The liquidation wasn’t total. Situational Awareness retained its private investments, most notably a stake in Anthropic valued at approximately $5 billion. That single position now accounts for roughly half of the fund’s remaining assets.
Aschenbrenner left OpenAI amid reported disagreements about the company’s approach to AI safety. He then built a fund that bet aggressively on the AI buildout thesis, and the one position he’s still holding is a massive stake in OpenAI’s chief rival.
Why crypto investors should be paying attention
Situational Awareness wasn’t just an AI fund. Its portfolio included significant exposure to Bitcoin miners, the companies that have increasingly positioned themselves as dual-purpose AI and crypto infrastructure plays. Companies like Core Scientific and Iris Energy have repositioned themselves as AI infrastructure providers while maintaining their mining operations. When a major holder dumps these positions in a forced sale, it puts downward pressure on the entire sector regardless of fundamentals.
Three Arrows Capital collapsed in 2022 under similar circumstances: leveraged bets, margin calls, forced liquidations, contagion. When a single firm like Citadel absorbs billions in liquidated positions from a distressed seller, it gains significant influence over the future price action of those assets.