7:26 AM ▪
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The marriage between Bitcoin and artificial intelligence is not taboo. Still, some want it very specific. A former OpenAI researcher fired for talking too much is turning that vision into a financial war machine. Leopold Aschenbrenner (24) is betting billions on a simple observation: AI will consume all available electricity, and Bitcoin miners are already plugged in.
In short
- Leopold Aschenbrenner, a former OpenAI researcher fired in 2024, now manages $5.5 billion through his hedge fund Situational Awareness.
- His fund is betting heavily on Bloom Energy and former bitcoin miners like Core Scientific and IREN.
- Investment work is based on the explosion of the need for electricity and infrastructure for artificial intelligence.
- Despite criticism from his former AI security peers, his fund grew 47% in the first half of 2025.
Bitcoin and AI: the 5 billion bet of the prodigy fired from OpenAI
First, let’s introduce the character. Leopold Aschenbrenner has a biography that reads like a spy novel. At the age of 17, he received a scholarship from the Emergent Ventures fund. At 19, he graduated top of his class at Columbia. He then joined the Future Fund of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried’s foundation, just before it collapsed.
Then OpenAI hires him to their “superalignment” team. And then it goes wrong. He is fired in April 2024 for sharing sensitive information. He claims he warned of inadequate security against Chinese spies. Never mind. Two months after his departure, he publishes “Situational Awareness”, a 165-page tome predicting the imminent arrival of AGI. The text goes viral. Ivanka Trump herself praises it. In particular, it catches the attention of Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross and the Collison brothers of Stripe.
These Silicon Valley leaders entrusted him with funding: his hedge fund, Situational Awareness LP, was born. Today, it has a market capitalization of more than $5 billion.
Why a hedge fund is buying bitcoin miners to boost AI
Next, let’s see what this money will buy. The most recent SEC filings are listed. The fund’s biggest position? Bloom Energy, a fuel cell manufacturer. Then come the surprising names: Core Scientific, IREN, Cipher Mining. Former Bitcoin miners who were struggling just months ago are suddenly becoming AI gems.
Aschenbrenner understood before anyone else that these companies own what AI will need most: industrial sites with massive access to electricity, installed cooling systems, network connections. Is Bitcoin Mining Becoming Less Profitable? Never mind. Their assets are worth their weight in gold to AI.
Anthropic friend Sholto Douglas explains the man’s philosophy:
He says: I am extremely confident about how the world is going to turn out and I am literally putting my money where my mouth is.
A billionaire outcast that his former AI friends don’t want to see anymore
Finally, the most delicious paradox. Aschenbrenner comes from AI security circles, those researchers obsessed with the existential risks of AI. He was one of them, sharing their fears, their efforts to slow down the race to AGI.
Today, many call him a traitor. A former OpenAI researcher tells Fortune:
Some people who were very worried about existential risks now really dislike Leopold because of what he did. He thinks he has sold his soul.
Still, Aschenbrenner put almost all of his personal wealth into the fund. He doesn’t just predict the future, he acts. His friends, like Douglas, defend him tooth and nail. So genius or opportunist? Probably both.
But with 5 billion on the table and betting returns of 47% in six months, the question becomes almost secondary.
The Aschenbrenner fund in key figures
- $5.5 billion: the fund’s total exposure to US markets;
- Bloom Energy: Biggest Position Before Ex-Bitcoin Miners;
- 47%: fund performance in the first half of 2025, after fees;
- $70,380: Bitcoin price at time of writing;
- Core Scientific, IREN, Cipher Mining: mining gems.
At Anthropic, the AI company where some of his friends are from, discussions with the Pentagon have resumed. Negotiations with the US military are no longer taboo. It shows that even idealists eventually deal with the real world. Leopold simply started with a head start.
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The blockchain and crypto revolution is in full swing! And on the day the effects are felt by the most vulnerable economy in this world, I will say against all hope that I had something to do with it
DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be taken as investment advice. Before making any investment decision, do your own research.
