Situational Awareness, a hedge fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, has sold the majority of its public stock portfolio to Ken Griffin’s Citadel following steep losses over the past month, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. Aschenbrenner, a 25-year-old German-born former valedictorian, launched the fund in 2024 with no prior trading experience. The fund returned 439% for the year through June, and assets under management reportedly grew to as much as $45 billion before positions dropped amid a broader decline in AI infrastructure investments. Hardest-hit stocks included SK Hynix, Sandisk, Bloom Energy, and Nebius Group, all plummeting by more than 30% over the past month. Losses were amplified by leverage. After Citadel bought the bulk of those holdings, Situational Awareness’ overall assets fell to roughly $10 billion, down from around $20 billion in recent months. Aschenbrenner had called the selloff one of the best buying opportunities since early last year in a July 24 letter, but the appeal didn’t garner the commitments he’d hoped. Early backers include Jane Street, Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison, and Meta executives Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman.