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Behind the collapse of the "AI Stock God" Leopold Fund: abandoning the sale of Anthropic equity and turning to discounted sales of public stocks

According to Wall St Engine, "AI stock god" Leopold Aschenbrenner's Situational Awareness fund faced liquidity pressure during the market crash in July, with behind-the-scenes details revealed.The report states that after the market rapidly cooled in mid-July, the decline in stocks held by Situational Awareness triggered margin monitoring by banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, leading to margin calls.Insiders said that other hedge funds began shorting related stocks after learning about its positions, creating a cycle of "price drop → margin call → forced selling → further price decline."In late July, while Leopold was hosting a wedding in Carmel, he continued negotiations with his team to maintain fund operations. On the evening of July 29, he reached a preliminary agreement with a consortium led by Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital to sell approximately $3.5 billion in Anthropic equity.However, in the early hours of July 30, before the U.S. stock market opened, Leopold changed his decision, opting to retain the private equity portfolio and instead sell publicly traded stocks. Subsequently, Citadel and Millennium entered negotiations with the fund team, and Citadel ultimately acquired most of the fund's public stock investment portfolio at a discount of more than 10% below market value before Thursday's opening.This transaction helped Situational Awareness meet margin requirements and avoid formal default. After the deal was completed, related AI and semiconductor stocks rebounded on Thursday, benefiting Citadel.As of around July 31, Situational Awareness disclosed to investors that the fund had a net loss of about 67% in July, but was still up about 80% for the year. Leopold stated that he "takes full responsibility" for the incident, and the fund has removed bank leverage, planning to continue operations and invest in the public market while adjusting its portfolio management and risk control systems.

The failure of the $1.5 billion financing led to the collapse of BSTR's shell listing, while American Bitcoin reduced its shares and increased its holdings by 500 BTC

According to BBX data, yesterday the global publicly listed companies in the U.S. stock market and the proposed listing of crypto giants faced severe differentiation in capital operations, with the core dynamics as follows:The plan for 30,000 BTC giant to go public has collapsed: Cantor Equity Partners I (NASDAQ: $CEPO) and Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company (BSTR) jointly announced through BusinessWire yesterday that they will no longer proceed with the transaction according to the original business combination agreement signed in July 2025. The core reason is that the $1.5 billion PIPE financing has completely failed to materialize. Against the backdrop of Bitcoin dropping about 50% from its historical high, investor interest in the new Bitcoin treasury company has significantly cooled. The shareholder meeting originally scheduled for July 10 has been indefinitely postponed. BSTR originally planned to carry 30,021 BTC to list on Nasdaq and become the world's fourth-largest publicly listed company holding Bitcoin, and this collapse means that its listing path needs to be redesigned.American Bitcoin Corp. completes 1-for-15 reverse stock split and increases holdings: American Bitcoin Corp. (NASDAQ: $ABTC) recently completed a 1-for-15 reverse stock split to meet Nasdaq's minimum stock price listing maintenance requirements. While consolidating shares to maintain its listing, the company announced that it purchased 500 BTC in the secondary market against the trend, increasing its total holdings to 8,000 BTC (fair value of approximately $496 million), ranking 16th globally among publicly listed companies in terms of Bitcoin holdings. The company is approximately 44% owned by Hut 8, and Eric Trump, the second son of Trump, serves as Chief Strategy Officer.

Analysis: Bitcoin's "silent bear market" continues, recording the worst weekly performance since the FTX collapse

Bitcoin briefly fell below $60,000 last Monday, marking the worst weekly performance since the FTX exchange collapse in 2022. As of last Sunday, Bitcoin had accumulated a 16% decline over the past 7 days, retreating more than 50% from its historical high of over $126,000 in 2025. Several market analysts warned that the current rebound may be difficult to sustain, and Bitcoin may not have reached the bottom of this cycle yet. Griffin Ardern, co-founder of Primal Fund, stated that the market is still quite far from the "true bottom."Data shows that the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF has recorded net outflows for 13 consecutive trading days, with a total outflow of approximately $5.5 billion. At the same time, Bitcoin fell below the 200-week moving average, widely regarded as a key support level, further weakening market confidence. Paul Howard, a senior executive at crypto trading firm Wincent, described the current market as a "silent bear market," believing that falling below the 200-week moving average is an important confirmation signal for the market entering a bear phase.Analysts pointed out that the ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Iran, the reversal of expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, and strong U.S. employment data are driving the market to reprice the interest rate path, with a high interest rate environment being unfavorable for the performance of risk assets, including crypto assets. Additionally, some funds are flowing from the crypto market into artificial intelligence and tech stock sectors. Nevertheless, the current pullback is still less than historical bear market cycles. In past bear markets, Bitcoin typically retreated about 80% from its peak, while this round has seen a decline of about 50%. Some traders believe that if the macro environment continues to deteriorate and companies holding large amounts of Bitcoin face financing pressures, there remains a risk of further downside in the market.
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