Citadel Unloads 80% of Situational Awareness Risk After Bitcoin Miner Selloff

Citadel has relieved some of the selling pressure on Bitcoin mining stocks by unwinding more than 80% of the risk it took on from Leopold Aschenbrenner's Situational Awareness portfolio.

The AI-focused fund, managed by former OpenAI researcher Aschenbrenner, surged 439% in the first half of 2026 before losing 67% in July and transferring about $10 billion in equities to Citadel on July 30.

The portfolio's biggest vulnerability came from semiconductor stocks, with Situational Awareness holding approximately $8.5 billion in put options against Nvidia, Oracle, Broadcom, and other AI-related companies in March.

Citadel subsequently distributed the acquired risk through nearly 100 block trades worth more than $4 billion, according to Ken Griffin, who told clients that the firm's ability to rapidly distribute those positions was central to its strategy.