Ken Griffin

Citadel

2026-08-22 02:37:43

Citadel says it cut more than 80% of Situational Awareness risk in about three weeks

Citadel founder Ken Griffin told investors that the firm removed more than 80% of the original aggregate risk tied to the portfolio it took over from Situational Awareness, a fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, in roughly three weeks. According to a letter obtained by CNBC, Citadel used nearly 100 block trades with a combined value of more than $4 billion to work through the positions. The letter also said the effort included the largest single-day block trades of the year to date in 10 different securities. Situational Awareness had posted outsized gains earlier in the year by concentrating on AI infrastructure and related supply-chain names, but that same concentration and leverage left it exposed when the AI trade reversed in July. The fund had returned about 439% in the first half, then dropped about 67% in July. As of the end of June, SanDisk and Micron Technology alone made up about 56% of the portfolio, which also included Bloom Energy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Nebius. Citadel took on most of the public equity portfolio in late July as the fund sought to reduce leverage and secure liquidity.

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Citadel Secur

2026-08-21 15:02:18

Citadel Securities says block trades removed more than 80% of risk from acquired portfolio

Citadel Securities founder Ken Griffin told clients on Friday that the firm has already stripped out more than 80% of the overall risk tied to the investment portfolio it bought from Leopold’s Situational Awareness fund assets. According to a letter obtained by CNBC, the risk reduction was carried out through more than 100 block trades with a combined market value of over $4 billion. Griffin said the transfer would not have been possible without close coordination from the trading desks and prime brokerage teams at the banks serving both companies, and he thanked them for moving the portfolio quickly. He also confirmed that Wellington, the firm’s flagship multi-strategy fund, posted a 5.94% return in July. CNBC had earlier reported that the result marked the fund’s best monthly performance since 2022.

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Citadel

2026-08-21 14:45:13

Ken Griffin says more than 80% of Situational Awareness portfolio risk has been unwound

Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin told investors on Aug. 21 that the firm has unwound more than 80% of the original portfolio risk tied to the AI fund Situational Awareness through nearly 100 block trades. The portfolio involved had a total market value of more than $4 billion, and Griffin said Citadel also exited most of its vega exposure quickly. In a Friday letter to clients, Griffin credited the trading and prime brokerage teams at the banks serving the two companies involved, saying the transfer could not have been completed at that scale without their close coordination. He thanked them for the focused effort that allowed the portfolio transition to be completed quickly. Griffin also confirmed that Citadel’s flagship multi-strategy Wellington fund returned 5.94% in July. CNBC had earlier reported that the result was the fund’s best monthly performance since 2022.

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AI stocks

2026-08-07 16:33:21

“AI Stock Oracle” Leopold Aschenbrenner Posts Wedding Photos After Fund’s 439% Run and July Selloff

Leopold Aschenbrenner, the fund manager known as the “AI stock oracle,” shared wedding photos on social media in what is reported to be his first update in nearly a year. Aschenbrenner runs the Situational Awareness fund. According to earlier disclosures, the fund had accumulated a 439% gain through June 2026, then suffered heavy losses during July’s selloff in AI-related stocks. The same earlier reporting said Aschenbrenner sold most of the fund’s stock portfolio to Citadel, the investment firm run by Ken Griffin, before getting married. The order of those events, as given in the reports, is a 439% climb through June, a July drawdown, and a pre-wedding sale of most holdings to Citadel. Aschenbrenner’s latest post is a personal milestone: wedding photos after nearly a year without a public update. The wedding photo update is personal and separate from the earlier fund disclosures. Ken Griffin’s Citadel is the buyer named in the earlier reports.

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Ken Griffin

2026-07-31 11:54:25

Protos says crypto keeps handing favorable deals to Ken Griffin’s Citadel

Protos argues that Ken Griffin and Citadel have repeatedly ended up on the winning side of crypto-adjacent transactions, with the latest example being Citadel’s discounted purchase of most of Situational Awareness’ AI stock portfolio. Citing The New York Times, the report says Citadel won an overnight auction for the holdings at a “considerable reduction” to market value after margin calls hit the AI hedge fund tied to former FTX Future Fund member Leopold Aschenbrenner. The article also revisits several earlier episodes. It points to ConstitutionDAO’s failed 2021 bid for a physical copy of the US Constitution, where the DAO’s on-chain treasury made its spending limit visible to rivals and Griffin ultimately won at $43.2 million. Protos says Sotheby’s irrevocable-bid structure trimmed about $4.2 million from his final cost. Beyond auctions, the report highlights payment for order flow as another channel through which Citadel benefits from retail trading activity, including crypto-linked flow routed by platforms such as Robinhood. It also revisits Ripple’s November 2025 $500 million raise at a $40 billion valuation, in which Citadel Securities affiliates co-led the round, and notes Bloomberg’s reporting on investor protections tied to that deal.

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Citadel

2026-07-24 04:35:15

Citadel's Ken Griffin, Who Once Called AI 'Garbage', Goes Home Depressed After Seeing Internal Agent Outperform Finance PhD Team

Citadel founder Ken Griffin admitted at Stanford that internal AI agents compressed weeks of high-skill financial analysis into hours, leaving him 'depressed' — a stark reversal from his earlier skepticism. The shift signals changing cost structures for Alpha generation.

210

Citadel Secur

2026-07-17 07:59:02

Citadel Securities invests $400 million in Crypto.com at a $20 billion valuation

Crypto.com has secured a $400 million strategic investment from Citadel Securities, giving the exchange a post-money valuation of $20 billion. The company said the capital will support expansion across asset classes, with a focus on tokenized securities and derivatives. The deal marks the first time since Crypto.com was founded in 2016 that it has brought in a strategic equity investment from a top Wall Street market maker. The transaction comes as institutional participation in digital assets continues to build. Citadel Securities, founded by Ken Griffin, has been increasing its exposure to crypto infrastructure over the past two years through moves spanning market-making, Digital Asset, Ripple and Kraken. For Crypto.com, the financing lands at a time when the company is shifting away from its image as a retail trading app and toward institutional-grade infrastructure. The exchange has also been cutting costs, including a roughly 12% workforce reduction in March 2026. The $20 billion valuation matches the level assigned to Kraken in a previous Citadel-backed deal, offering another reference point for how Wall Street is pricing large private crypto exchanges.

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